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Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP190125A
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00:15 Most of us know someone who's been impacted by cardiovascular
00:18 disease and too often it doesn't end well. But today we have an 00:21 opportunity to learn first hand from someone who's experienced 00:25 bypass surgery and you all know him well. Danny Shelton's here 00:28 to share his experience today on the Ultimate Prescription. 00:34 ♪ ♪ 00:53 Welcome, thank you for joining us today on the Ultimate 00:55 Prescription. I'm your host, Nick Evenson and today we have 00:58 Dr. James Marcum, speaker/ director of Heartwise Ministries 01:02 practicing physician, cardiologist and of course 01:04 Danny Shelton, Founder of Three Angels Broadcasting _. 01:07 Thank you for joining us today. 01:09 Oh it's my privilege to be here. Thanks for having me. 01:12 Well we have a very interesting story to tell. I guess it's a 01:16 story of a journey of life and we're going to talk about that. 01:20 Remember we've talked previously about we all have bad 01:24 genes and we all need a Savior and sometimes we're genetically 01:28 programmed for those genes to wear out and different stressors 01:32 in life can cause those genes to wear out. We're now learning 01:36 that each person has different things that trigger the genes to 01:39 get older. Some people, of course, we know it's smoking. 01:42 Some people just have it no matter what they do and when 01:44 genes wear out we have modern medicine that can help. We also 01:48 want to slow down genetic expression by different 01:51 lifestyle things that we can do and we talked about those. But 01:55 the key to all of this, the key that heals us, and that's what 01:58 we like to do in the balance is understanding that it's the 02:02 relationship with Jesus that heals us. Because even if we 02:05 have parts that wear out, we're all going to get old and die 02:08 unless God comes, but when we have Him we know in the 02:11 twinkling of an eye we're going to be healed. That's not only 02:14 a hope for today, but that's hope for eternity. That's why 02:17 Biblical prescriptions in our lives are something that we can 02:22 depend on. So Danny how did you first know that you might have a 02:27 problem? 02:28 Actually I was sitting home one evening and I just had a little 02:31 something that's unusual, almost like somebody scares you and you 02:35 take this breath and I noticed that and I didn't think too much 02:37 about it and the next night I noticed it also. And so I said 02:43 maybe I should have... my father, the history is my father 02:47 was disabled at 36 years old and couldn't work. Actually 02:50 you know he was able to get by but really couldn't do much in 02:55 life till he died at 51, which now at 68 that seems really way 03:00 too young. When I was 23 and he died and people said Oh he died 03:04 way too young. I thought man he's a half a century you know. 03:09 Now my daughter's almost, she's 48, sorry Melody. The good part 03:13 of this program showed a few years from now, she'll still be 03:17 48. Okay. So he died. Then some of my aunts and uncles, he had 03:21 about 12 or 13 brothers and sisters. Several of those died 03:25 of heart attacks. And my oldest brother, there's four boys and a 03:29 girls in my family, so my oldest brother Tommy, he had open heart 03:33 surgery about 10 or 12 years ago and nearly three years ago my 03:37 brother Kenny had open heart surgery and so I said well I 03:40 should have this checked out. 03:42 You had a strong genetic history of storing fat in arteries. 03:46 Absolutely. So I decided to go so I called Dr. Davis here, my 03:50 doctor in West Frankfurt, and so they said let's do a treadmill 03:54 test. We did the test. I did about six minutes on the test 03:57 then they said Oh you're fine there's nothing wrong with you, 04:00 you passed. And I said no keep going. And so they said well we 04:04 don't need to. I said no I want to... 04:05 Well why did you want to keep going? 04:07 Because I thought if I really have something wrong that 04:09 I wasn't even that tired. See I play basketball. At my age I 04:12 still run full court every week. I'm like how can you tell. I'm 04:15 not even breathing hard. So I said let's go. And of course you 04:18 know every three minutes they raise it so it's harder. So I 04:21 said let's go. Are you sure? I said yeah. Let's go nine 04:24 minutes. So after nine minutes they said well you can get off 04:27 now. I said no I want to keep going. They said why and I said 04:30 well if I have a heart attack I want to do it while you all are 04:32 here with me. Why would I want to do it on the basketball 04:35 court? So they said. So I'm still doing fine but really 04:38 starting to feel it. But at 11 minutes in they said you need to 04:42 get off. And I said no I want to finish. There's one more 04:44 minute. They said you need to get off. 04:46 They saw something, right? 04:47 Yeah. They said well we're not sure what it is but all your 04:50 vital signs say to limit. We need you to get off. So they 04:53 said we think it's maybe something electrical. We really 04:56 don't think it's your arteries. And of course my physician he 05:01 plays basketball with me. He's not yet 50. So he says well I 05:05 can't tell you I'm glad we're doing this but you know you're 05:08 not what I would look at because you run full court. I'm probably 05:12 the only guy my age who's still running full court basketball. 05:16 So anyway so then we decided I ought to go down to Carbondale 05:20 University and have an angioplasty thing. They did it 05:23 up my wrist. So they told me I'd be asleep. The guy said 05:26 you'll be awake but you won't remember it. So while they were 05:29 working on me I said now when am I supposed to forget this. 05:32 You know because I'm still... He said well after it's over 05:34 you probably will. Hopefully you won't remember but about two 05:38 or three minutes in I heard him say oh we need to stop. We've 05:42 got some blockage. And so they came out and then later they 05:45 come up in the afternoon and so a doctor came I'd never met, a 05:49 surgeon and he said well you have several blockages, a widow 05:51 maker. He explained. What do you call it when it's not crystalize 05:57 calcified down quite a ways. He said that's the most dangerous. 06:02 You're not blocked like 90 or 100 percent but probably that 06:06 may be 70 percent but the fact that it's calcified and you have 06:10 some other just probably 65 percent so we're going to go in. 06:15 And I said really? 06:16 I'm going to stop you right here So we talked about this before 06:19 so we have genetic disease that's been accumulating over 06:23 years. A person doesn't feel right. That's a symptom. And you 06:27 knew something wasn't quite right. We do the testing. We 06:31 have different testing that we do. You had an abnormality on 06:34 the testing even though you weren't having lots of symptoms. 06:38 Then you do another test called an angiogram. We look at the 06:41 arteries and learn more about them. We found out that they're 06:44 calcified. That's a sign that the arteries have been aging 06:47 genetically and even though you're not have a lot of problem 06:50 they find different blockages and they talk to you about all 06:53 your options. So what did they talk to you about? 06:55 Well you know what the surgeon says that I've never met. That's 06:59 what I kept thinking now I don't know this guy from anybody. So 07:02 he comes in and says you know in the morning we're going to 07:05 operate on you and we're going to do a bypass and probably 07:09 tomorrow if we can get the schedule. And I said, well why? 07:14 And he says you're obviously going to need it and he showed 07:18 me the results. And I said but I'm not 90 percent or 100. I'm 07:20 not even out of breath. I've never even had a chest pain in 07:23 my life, you know. Why would I do this? And he said, Well if 07:26 we're going to have it we might as well. So I said well 07:29 respectfully I really don't know you and not sure I'll even do it 07:32 at this hospital. So I said I have a really good friend who's 07:36 a cardiologist down in Chattanooga area and I want to 07:41 talk to him. And I have another friend who's a cardiologist out 07:45 in California, Dr. Schubert, and I said I want to get some advice 07:50 and they said, so you want to leave? You'll be at your own 07:54 risk. I said well I've been 67 years at my own risk but if 07:58 it's not an emergency then give me some time to think about it. 08:02 So Yvonne, my wife, she said why don't we go to Mayo Clinic 08:06 or somewhere like that. My thing is wait a minute; if I'm sick 08:10 then I need to go to the doctor I don't want to go 650 miles 08:14 north to Mayo Clinic and then once the surgery's over am I 08:17 going to have to stay in a hotel for 30 days. I just want to be 08:20 home. So I did some studies. You researched for me and told me 08:24 that the doctors in Carbondale is a good university which I'm 08:29 thankful for. Dr. Watson, you gave me his background and said 08:32 well you know you have some good options. So you didn't tell me 08:37 what to do but he gave me my options which is really nice and 08:40 then Dr. Schubert gave me some options and said now it's your 08:43 life so you guys decide what you want to do. So we decided to 08:48 stay here and I'm really glad I had Dr. Watson, great surgeon. 08:51 And the university hospital couldn't have treated us better. 08:56 I mean they were just... But I was only in four days. 08:59 Once you found out and started working through this, how did 09:04 you end up feeling inside when you made this decision to have 09:09 this? Not physically but more emotionally. 09:14 Oh yeah, yeah, Emotionally a lot of things go through your mind. 09:19 Because we all know we're going to die, but you know for 09:21 instance literally a week or two after I had my surgery a friend 09:26 of mine I grew up with and went to school with, high school and 09:28 graduated, business person in West Frankfort, and almost same 09:34 name, Shelby, Shelton and we sat together in all of our 09:35 classrooms and all that. He had the same surgery and he died in 09:41 the hospital. So you understand that when you go in there... But 09:45 amazingly when the morning we had the surgery, I made up my 09:50 mind to do it, of course you're taking a shower. Then you're 09:52 getting ready that morning and putting all the stuff on you and 09:55 so things are going through your mind. This may be the last day, 09:58 may be the last time you put on clothes. I mean those that's 10:01 been through there you think about this. May be the last time 10:04 I see my family. So my family and lots of folk here from 3ABN, 10:08 we had a huge crowd coming in which you're not really...You're 10:11 thankful for it but that's not... So I'm there. They're 10:14 getting me ready to go and I couldn't believe the peace that 10:17 I had. And I had a total peace because I said you know what 10:20 I win, either way I win. I come out and I'm better off than I 10:27 was. I make it through the surgery. Or if I don't, the 10:31 first face I'll see is Jesus. So suddenly there was just this 10:35 peace, that I wasn't even worried. I was thinking now... 10:38 I always tell them when I've had surgery before, now when are 10:41 going to give me the shot that makes me don't care. That's what 10:44 I want the don't care shot. I don't know what you call it but 10:47 they haven't given me anything yet and yet I found that peace 10:50 and like okay I'm ready. So when they came to get me I just said 10:54 Lord I'm in your hands. 10:55 Something physiologically was going on that was giving you 10:58 calm and peace. And that was that relationship with Jesus. 11:01 Yeah, yeah. And I didn't know. We don't know how we're going 11:06 to act till something like that happens. But I just was... of 11:09 course I confessed my sins and did things we should do but I 11:14 try to do that most of the time anyway. God knows your heart, 11:17 you know. Even though we make mistakes. We'll always make 11:20 mistakes but God knows. So I felt a peace about it. 11:24 It's always a challenge when I patient that doesn't feel that 11:30 bad. You know, 11 minutes on a treadmill. That's great, by the 11:32 way. A person that doesn't feel bad finds out that they have 11:36 disease. You know it's different if someone's had a heart attack 11:40 and having something that you have to do something. But when 11:43 someone really doesn't feel that bad and you don't know how the 11:45 disease is progressing. So it might have stayed this for a 11:48 while or it might have progressed. And remember they're 11:51 talking about bypass where we bring arteries south of the 11:54 blockages so the blood has another blood supply. It's 11:57 almost like insurance if something does happen. It 12:01 doesn't necessarily take away the problem but it's insurance 12:03 so if you have that problem, Oh you have an insurance policy 12:06 of extra blood going to your heart. So the problem is still 12:11 there, it's genetically still there. It didn't turn off your 12:14 genes. So sometimes it progresses, sometimes it 12:17 doesn't. But it's very hard when someone can do so well to say 12:20 I have to take the risk. Did they tell you about some of the 12:22 risks of the surgery? 12:25 Uh yes. Yeah, yeah. And of course, I had vocal cord surgery 12:30 three years ago and that to me was a simple procedure and they 12:33 said now you need to know one of the risks is death. And I'm 12:35 like you're just going to operate. And they said well any 12:38 time you go under anesthesia, you know, there's that risk. But 12:42 now in this case, of course, they walked me through all the 12:45 potentials but they also did a good job walking me through the 12:48 risks if you don't have it. And they did a good job at that. 12:52 So we're going to take a break here, Nick, and we're going to 12:57 talk about what it felt like after the surgery in a few 12:59 moments and then some of the things that you've gone through 13:01 that you can share with every body to know the ups and downs 13:04 you have after the surgery. 13:05 That's right and viewers at home if you have questions about some 13:08 of what you're hearing about from this procedure and some of 13:11 the different things that you should be considering. Visit our 13:13 website HeartWiseMinisteries.org and you can submit your 13:16 questions there and Dr. Marcum or someone on our team will 13:18 respond to you in a timely manner to share some general 13:21 advice and point you in the right direction. There's more 13:23 to come on the Ultimate Prescription so stay with us. |
Revised 2020-03-23