Books I’m Reading

Am reading this.

Just finished reading this.

Jot and Tittle

In several of my blog posts about my genetic heart condition, I mentioned how the tests did not show my condition at first, but finally spotted it three years later once it had gotten worse. I asked my cardiologist for copies of those EKGs so I could show you the difference.

You will see a certain jiggle on the graph above the arrow in 2011. That’s basically normal. But that same jiggle is quite different in 2014. That was my illness.

Coincidence or Foreshadowing?

In May 2009, I had my first symptoms of what was later determined to be hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

In November 2009, we traveled to Burbank to attend the filming of an episode of “The Big Bang Theory” (season three, episode eleven: “The Maternal Congruence”). When rewatching the episode last night, we noticed that Sheldon observed, when the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes, that “enlargement of the heart muscle, or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, is a serious disease which can lead to congestive heart failure.”

I nearly fell off the couch.

It wasn’t until nearly five years after we attended that taping that my doctor diagnosed my issue.

Was Sheldon trying to tell me something?

You can see the clip here.

Books I’m Reading

Am reading this.

Just finished reading this.

Symptomatic Symptoms

I recently read an article about seven symptoms that could signal heart problems. It got me thinking about the long journey I traveled from my first symptoms to my heart surgery in January.

Nearly six years before my operation, I had my first symptoms: crossing a street, my vision began to narrow, my hearing nearly disappeared, I could barely breathe and had trouble walking. I nearly fell over in the middle of the street. I went to my doctor and told him I thought I’d had a mini-stroke. Tests ruled that out.

That incident -- which occasionally recurred -- began a years-long odyssey of visiting doctor after doctor: my regular doctor three times, a pulmonologist, a gastroenterologist, two different cardiac specialists. In each case, tests were done and nothing was found. After a couple years of this, one doctor suggested he should give me a referral to a psychologist because clearly these symptoms were all in my head.

I ended up at an endocrinologist who discovered I had bouts of low-blood sugar after eating. I stayed away from bad carbohydrates and the symptoms seemed to abate. Along the way I found out I had a heart murmur that was, over time, getting more pronounced. Five years after this all started, my general doctor recommended I return to my cardiologist. That was the suggestion that saved my life.

The cardiologist repeated many of the tests he had done a few years before. This time, they found it: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). It’s genetic. It’s the thing high school football players suddenly die from. It hits before the age of 20 or after the age of 50. When my symptoms started, I was 49 years old.

Upon researching this, I found out HCM can be very hard to diagnose. Its symptoms mimic many other illnesses (like low blood sugar) and it takes a long time for some of the symptoms to be bad enough to be found in normal testing. In fact, despite HCM being relatively common, my cardiologist told me I was the first patient he’d ever seen who had it. (I presume that’s because most people discover they have HCM when they suddenly die from it.)

I don’t want to say I was lucky to find a diagnosis and life-saving surgery before I dropped dead. Rather, I want to show how persistence is important when it comes to our health. NO ONE will advocate for you. YOU have to advocate for yourself all the time. My years as a journalist have taught me to continue to ask questions until I understand the answer. Ask. Ask. Ask. If your doctor won’t answer, find another doctor. Keep asking until you understand.

It’s not overreaching to say that, had I not kept asking, my HCM would have ended my life by now. And it would have been only then that someone would have seen the damage to my heart and said: “Hmm. I guess he was right. There was something wrong.”

Broadway To Hollywood

I love theater; but then again, I hate theater.

Unlike almost any other art form, theater is transient: it is there one moment and then gone the next. Many of these ephemeral stage productions are preserved on film or tape, courtesy the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive which records Broadway productions, but this only started in 1970, and these recorded productions are not readily available for viewing by the average person. And, what about everything else?

For example, you can’t see the Broadway production of “Bus Stop” (1955) that made Elaine Stritch a star before her star-making turn in “Company” (1970). And you can’t see Jessica Tandy’s Tony Award-winning performance of Blanche in “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1947). And no one will ever see the theater performances of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in “The Guardsman” (1924) which was apparently the greatest theater experience since the invention of the wheel.

So, what to do? Thankfully, this is one of the rare times Hollywood has come to the rescue by allowing brilliant actors to turn brilliant stage performances into brilliant film performances that are still available for the average Joe to see.

Here are five examples of great Broadway performances that were transferred (perhaps not exactly) to film, allowing future generations to see what all the fuss has been about all these years:

Shirley Booth: I grew up watching Booth on the television show “Hazel.” I was amazed to find out she had acted in films. Then I was more amazed to find out she acted on Broadway and even won two Tony Awards -- one for “Goodbye My Fancy” (1948), the other for “Come Back, Little Sheba” (1950). She was brought to Hollywood to reprise her roll in Come Back, Little Sheba and justly won an Oscar and a handful of other major awards. [Photograph: Booth with Sidney Blackmer in the 1950 production of “Come Back, Little Sheba]

Marlon Brando: What can I say about the young, hungry Brando that hasn’t already been said a million times before? He fought for and won the role of Tennessee Williams’ Stanley Kowalski for the Broadway production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1947) and won raves. Wisely, Hollywood cast him in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire and he was nominated for an Oscar. [Photograph: Brando with co-star Jessica Tandy in the 1947 production of “A Streetcar Named Desire”]

Joel Grey: Grey won a Tony Award for his performance as the Master of Ceremonies in the Broadway production of “Cabaret” (1966). He then won an Oscar for recreating his performance in the film version of Cabaret. [Photograph: Grey in the 1966 production of “Cabaret”]

Katharine Hepburn: Hepburn was a movie star. Then, in the 1930s, she became “box-office poison.” Determined to prove Hollywood wrong about her, she went back to her Broadway roots and signed on to do Philip Barry’s play “The Philadelphia Story” (1939). It was a huge hit. Hepburn starred in the film version of The Philadelphia Story and was nominated for her third Oscar. [Photograph: Hepburn and Dan Tobin in the 1939 production of "The Philadelphia Story]

Robert Preston: Preston won a Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway production of “The Music Man” (1957). The musical’s creator, Meredith Willson, insisted Preston be brought over to Hollywood. Despite the objections of Jack Warner (who wanted Frank Sinatra), Preston appeared in the film version of The Music Man. [Photograph: Preston and co-star Barbara Cook in the 1957 production of “The Music Man”]