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By Jim Stocker, told Danny Bonvisuto
When I started smoking in high school, it was cool. Attractive women in grocery stores handed out small boxes of four cigarettes, trying to get you to change your brand. When I was in the military, there were cigarettes in my C-rations, and the thought was, “Smoke them if you have them.” I don’t think anyone was interested in health at the time.
Some smokers may tell you the minute, time, and day they quit. I can’t because I give up so many times.
I was in my early 60’s, I worked in sales management and smoking became a social negative. Earlier in my career, there were ashtrays in offices and conference rooms. Later, there was a smoking area in the office. Finally we had to go outside and smoke in the parking lot. First of all, I gave up because other people smelled smoke on me. At the time, this was as much a business necessity as it was a health problem.
I retired for a year in 2006 when I had the classic symptoms of heart disease that led to a fivefold coronary artery bypass graft. Then I went to coronary rehabilitation for 16 weeks: I did a treadmill, resistance training and learned relaxation techniques. When I was done with that, I was really passionate and practiced religiously for the next decade. Then everything went in the container.
Mysterious pain
In December 2016, just around the holidays, I woke up at 3 in the morning with terrible pain in my left leg. I couldn’t load it, so I rolled out of bed and crawled to the bathroom. I was thinking of calling 911, then I thought, well, let’s see if that goes away.
Did not happen.
At first I thought it was a problem with my hip, because the pain seemed to radiate down my legs from my thigh. I consulted an orthopedist about some routine arthritis and he thought the surgery would help with my leg pain, but he couldn’t do it for 8 weeks. I was on crutches and in great pain. After 4 days of waiting, I went back to his office and asked if they could do something else to help me.
I received an injection of lidocaine in my left hip joint for short-term relief, but nothing happened. I went to a back specialist and a pain management specialist and had three epidural anesthetics. I was told that they could implant a device in my upper gluteal muscles that would give me a remote control to control the pain.
At that moment, I had the feeling that they were guessing. I went back to my PCP and said, “Doctor, I’m about to throw in the towel. I am 79 years old and I am very active and it still hurts. What about a chiropractor? ”He said,“ This is your body. Do it.”
After a 45-minute reception with a practicing nurse in the chiropractic office, she said, “Mr. Stocker, you really don’t need to be here. I worked in a category lab for 8 years and have seen your condition hundreds of times. You have a circulation problem. “
“Attack on the leg”
I saw a cardiologist who referred me to a vascular specialist. She diagnosed me with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and found that I had about 70% occlusion of my right leg and about 40% of my left. This was the accumulation of more than 40 years of smoking. She told me that the severe pain I felt that night in my leg was a leg attack in the same way that other people get heart attacks.
I tried medication for 30 days: it didn’t help. I doubled the medicine for another 30 days: it didn’t work. She referred me to a vascular surgeon, who said she needed to stent the femoral artery in my left leg and open the right one with a femoral endarterectomy. I had these surgeries in September and December 2018, two years after the attack on my leg.
Back in the stream
Leading to my diagnosis, I would try to walk in my neighborhood and have to sit on the curb. My level of pain during activity was 8 or 9 and limited to my two peaches.
After my surgeries, the doctor told me not to expect a speedy recovery. My muscles needed to learn again how to use the blood supply. Obviously, your muscles atrophy where you get these blockages. Mine were at my feet and I think this is common because they are farthest from your heart.
Today I can walk comfortably for 20-30 minutes or more. The difference is that now that the pain has occurred, I know I can continue and it will drop to a level that is tolerable. I’m not going to Disney any time soon, but I still maintain my own lawn with a push mower, and hard work is good for my calves and legs.
I don’t think I’m missing anything because of PAD, but I’m slowing down because of my age. You can’t walk 100 miles an hour forever; you have to adjust. I was lucky enough to be diagnosed and strong enough to know what I needed to do to stay healthy.
It is not a life-threatening disease, but it is life-threatening. If you let him put you in your chair, it opens you up to other problems related to aging. I’m 82 and I don’t feel 82. I wish I could move a little better, but it’s a thousand times better than it was.
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