The most versatile, graceful singer, KK, Krishnakumar Kunnath (age 53) died recently of Heart Attack (most likely). His death came as a shock as he was fully active and was singing in the concert few hours back. Read news here.
Get nostalgic every time whenever I hear his songs, especially, yaaro, dosti badi hi haseen hai.. RIP, Om Shanti, KK..
Many young achievers (age 50 or less) have died in last few months of heart related issues e.g. Puneeth Rajkumar, Siddharth Shukla, Radhakrishnan Dhanarajan, Ranjan Das, Pankhuri Shrivastava, Rudratej Singh etc.
It raises some serious questions.
- Did they not get signs of cardiac issues?
- Were they and their family overconfident due to their physical appearance?
- Will we also die suddenly?
- Can we do something about it?
- Are there any learnings which we can apply to avoid sudden heart attack?
Read on if you are also looking for answers:
Now, It’s my duty to share how I and many others could avoid such sudden death.
Many of you, may know that I had a bypass surgery (CABG 5x) on 14-Feb-22 and now, living a 2nd life which I appreciate more than ever.
Corona and lockdown (in Mar-20) brought complete travel business (@rideally) to ZERO and with so much expenses, stress was very high. I do have family history of cardiac issues especially BP and Sugar and personally, also have them. Some time in Sep-20, when I was walking, I had little breathlessness and got tired even with 1 Km walk. We all thought that it is because of little exercise (or movement) as we are confined to home. Finally, told my younger brother, Dr. Jaiprakash Agrawal (HOD, Psychiatry Deptt, Hamidiya Hospital, Bhopal) and went for health checkup, ECG, TMT, Echo etc in Dec-20 at Bhopal. Results were not good and were not conclusive hence was advised to take some additional medicines/precautions/exercises.
Now, 2nd wave of Corona came in March and went till August and everything went for toss again. Stress again piled up and could not visit hospital also due to Killer Corona everywhere. Started exercise again in Aug-21 and felt tired even after walking 500 mtrs. We thought that reason could be low stamina hence started more walking but situation did not improve much. Finally, planned to visit Bhopal for further checkups.
Interesting part is that, we went to Bhopal by car with brother-in-law, Shubham Agrawal, who single-handedly drove till Bhopal. It took 2 days to reach Bhopal with overnight stay at Nagpur. Wonderful journey, covered almost 1600 Kms, lovely India and it’s colors. About that journey, some other time.
Anyway, went for another round of tests in Dec-21 and situation was bad this time. Cardiologist recommended Angiogram to understand blockages and surprise, almost 100% blockage. Everybody shocked. Early bypass recommended, stent etc ruled out. Came back to Bangalore in Car with overnight stay at Hyderabad. My wife, Richa Agrawal, took some additional medicines/precautions. I enjoyed the journey as I always felt that I am in good hands. We planned the surgery, did some research, got required info, our network of Rotary and goodwill helped a lot and finally, got bypass (CABG 5x) done on 14-Feb at Manipal hospital at Bengaluru.
Now, I am privileged as I could get lots of help from family and friends. In fact, most achievers can get required support easily.
So, How do you avoid sudden cardiac arrest? if you are above 40 then get your tests done which MUST include Echo, TMT and enjoy life (like me) as it comes 🙂 . Do not take unnecessary stress. Stress is unavoidable but still, can be managed. Do health checkup annually. Also, if you feel chest pain or breathlessness etc, get checkups done immdtly.
Last but not least, I don’t think that anything happens sudden however we humans have unique ability to ignore most obvious signs at times.
Greate experience Boss
Very well written. I would like to add some points:
Many celebrities survived also with timely intervention. Saurav Ganguli, Sunil Grover are examples. But that happens when we trust Medical Professionals.
Recently, I had a patient whose mother died of heart attack 7 months back and as he was very closely attached with mother he had Depressive symptoms. 2 months back my patient had chest discomfort, went to nearby hospital. Got ECG done, there were changes of heart attack, Angiography done, there was 90%blockage in one artery and one cardiac stent was placed. But when they came to me, they (he and his family members) had mistrust on their doctors, saying that our patient was fit but still doctors put cardiac stent. Due to Propaganda against Doctors/Allopathic Medical Science, we lose many lives. Even we ignore professional advise from doctors.
Do anyone remember case of Sh. Rajeev Dikshit (Swadeshi Jaagran Manch fame). He fell prey to his own propaganda. When he had chest discomfort he misinterpreted it for GAS problem, didn’t went to.hospital and we lost a bright (though misguided) life.
Awareness is needed, so that previous lives be saved. But, Media in their attempt to sensationalise (even in attached video) is not focussing on measures to promote cardiac health awareness.
I am in the USA. Here is my story:
In November 2019, I went to the ER for large blood clots in my urine. They tested my troponin levels which indicated I was in the middle of a major heart attack! I felt no pain….nothing to indicate I was having any type of cardiac problems. They performed an angiogram & put in a stent. It was about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving & my cardiologist decided to do a Stent because as he said to a doctor shadowing home “nobody wants to be healing from bypass surgery during the holidays”. Big mistake. 4 weeks later, I had another heart attack strong enough to push that Stent away! Again, I had no pain….just shortness of breath. They put 2 more stents in….thus buying me time. However, my breathlessness never improved. Covid started in 2020, so I rarely left home & got little exercise except the stairs in my house. On March 16, 2022, I went to the ER because I thought I had pneumonia. I could barely breathe & was wheezing and terribly fatigued. Troponin levels were fine….no heart attack then. They did admit me as I did have small amount of fluid in left lung. While there they did a chemical stress test, EKG, echocardiogram & angioplasty to better view the blockages. I was told I needed a triple bypass (CABGX3) and the cardiac surgeon would be in later that day to discuss it with me. I was a week away from my 58th birthday & in the hospital talking about open heart surgery. My world just started spinning. I had my surgery on March 21st…..3 days before my birthday which meant that’s where I’d celebrate said birthday. I had an excellent cardiac surgeon. Surgery went very well & he gave me a thoracic nerve block so I felt no pain for about 9 weeks. I healed nicely during that time. The problem now is my blood pressure is all over the place. High then bottoms out. When I stand up, I get really dizzy & go totally blind for a couple minutes, then I feel better, but exhausted & scared. Very stressful for me. I don’t see my cardiologist until the 23rd, but if he can’t see me sooner when I call tomorrow, I’m going back to the ER.