Patients need to ask the right questions

In director John Hughes’s 1989 movie “Uncle Buck,” Buck (John Candy) is the last person you’d trust to baby-sit your kids. But a family emergency puts him in charge of his nephew and nieces.

Eight-year-old nephew Miles grills Buck about his credentials: “Do you have a house?” “Apartment,” replies Buck. “Own or rent?” asks Miles. “Rent.” “Where’s your office?” “I don’t have one.” If you’re choosing a surgeon, you want to be as discerning as Miles, and you need better answers. Once you’ve eliminated other treatment options — such as physical therapy, medication or lifestyle changes — here are the questions to ask to make sure you’re in good hands:

• How often do you perform this surgery? (The surgeon should do the procedure multiple times weekly.)

• What’s your success rate, and what complications occur most frequently? How do you deal with them?

• Are you board certified? Are you a member of the American College of Surgeons? (No? Look elsewhere.)

• What’s your infection rate? What’s the rate of infections at the institution where you will perform the surgery?

• What anesthesia is usually employed for this? If the answer is “general” or “regional” (spinal or nerve block), follow up with, “Will I meet the anesthesiologist?” (No? Go elsewhere. Yes? Ask the same questions about his or her training.)

• If it applies: “Do you usually work with a particular physical therapist or rehabilitation centre?”

• How can I contact you if I have more questions?

If you’re satisfied with the answers, get it done, and look forward to getting better soon!

In the 1975 film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” a villager (John Cleese) tries to find a place on the dead collector’s (Eric Idle) wagon for the body of an old man, when the old guy proclaims, “But I’m not dead yet.” That’s the same happy declaration that tens of thousands of cardiac patients in the U.K. can make today.

That’s because the U.K. leads the world in the number of folks who take advantage of cardiac rehabilitation programs. There, 50 per cent of people who’ve had a cardiac event sign up for this lifesaving therapy. In the U.S., only about 20 per cent do.

The American Heart Association says that patients who enrol in cardiac rehab within six months of a heart attack dramatically reduce their risk of dying in the next year. If they enrol within six to 12 months, it’ll reduce the chance of hospital readmission by 31 per cent.

So why don’t folks take advantage of cardiac rehab programs? Some blame the insurance industry, which doesn’t always offer 100 per cent coverage. Others blame their doctors. One study found that only 56 per cent of heart patients were referred for cardiac therapy!

Cardiac rehab involves a team of specialists (a psychologist, doctor, nurse, exercise therapist and dietitian or nutritionist) who help you achieve a safe level of physical activity, adopt a hearthealthy diet and stick to your medication regimen. When 2015 Master’s champion 21-year-old Jordan Spieth came to Augusta National’s 10th hole last year, he held a five-shot lead after four straight birdies. But that was before Amen Corner. He then lost six strokes — four of them to a quadruple bogey 7 on number 12!

That colossal, stroke-accumulating meltdown was bad enough, but it was nothing compared to the ever-increasing number of ischemic strokes (caused by an obstruction in blood vessels supplying the brain) that are affecting ever-younger folks.

A recent Rutgers University study found that in the U.S., people ages 42-51 have a 43 per cent higher rate of stroke than those ages 62-71. Furthermore, stroke rates have more than doubled in people 35 to 39 and doubled in those 40 to 44, but declined in folks 55 and older!

It’s hard to know exactly what accounts for the trends, but it’s clear that adopting lifestyle habits that keep the cardiovascular system healthy is necessary. So kiss trans and most sat fats and added sugars or syrups goodbye. Eat only 100 per cent whole grains. Avoid tobacco, marijuana and hookah parlours like the plague! Know your BP, and keep it below 120/80 — with or without meds. (If you’re at high risk, talk to your doc about taking two low-dose aspirins daily.) Also: • Make sure you walk 10,000 steps daily or get the equivalent physical activity and sleep 7-8 hours nightly.

• Achieve a healthy weight and stay there! Obesity can spike already-elevated blood pressure, and that’s a major trigger of stroke.

The 2015-2016 New Year’s fireworks display in Manila, Philippines, was the largest ever: 810,904 fireworks lit up the night sky for more than an hour. The pyrotechnics were fuelled in part by magnesium, an element that creates an intense white light when ignited.

If you want to light up your nutrition and get a healthier bang for your buck, you, too, should fuel up with magnesium — dietary magnesium, that is. Magnesium helps support more than 300 body processes, from breaking down sugars to producing important proteins. But, depending on your age, up to 80 per cent of you are deficient. Women need to shoot for 350 milligrams a day; men 400.

Getting more is better: A new metastudy of around one million people found that an increase of 100 mg of dietary magnesium daily (that’s just a handful of almonds and a cup of kale) significantly reduces your risk of stroke, heart disease and diabetes. A Harvard study found that a high daily magnesium intake reduces the risk of Type 2 diabetes by 33 per cent. (The only people who have to worry about too much magnesium are folks with deficient kidney function.) Here’s where you get it: • Legumes: Beans, peas and soy. • Nuts: Almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, pine nuts and pecans.

• Seeds: Pumpkin, flaxseed and sunflower.

• Fish: Wild salmon, mackerel, halibut and tuna

• Plus: Dark leafy greens such as raw or cooked baby spinach, collard greens, kale or Swiss chard; berries; dark chocolate; bananas; and avocados.