LETTERS FROM THE READERS: GREAT COLUMN

June 1, 2010 – Letters from readers

Kudos to Carl Gustafson for his extremely well written, intriguing, and informative article in the Winter 2009-2010 edition of your paper.

Some 20 years ago I went in for a routine checkup and blood workup. A few days later my then new doctor called me and said, “You’d better get back in here, you’re gonna die!” It turned out my cholesterol was extremely high and he started me on one of the cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.

I told him he needed some work on his bedside manner. It’s possible he may have saved my life. I never used to see doctors for anything. I too indulged heavily in all the artery clogging foods I could eat.

A few years ago I watched a gentleman die on the floor of a dugout after he had just pitched a losing game to my team. Members of my team gave him CPR for a good 20-30 minutes while we waited for an ambulance to arrive. He never revived from a massive heart attack.

I’ll be 76 this year, have my lifetime National ID card, and am still playing Senior Softball here in Albuquerque. I played in tournaments with the 70’s New Concepts team for some years and am with the New Concepts II teams (formerly the 75’s) here in town. We hope to form a 75’s team next year and resume tournament play. I’m still on the statin drugs and try not to over indulge on the good stuff.

Joe Leonski

Albuquerque, NM