Welcome to Dr. Warrick's podcast channel. Warrick is a practicing cardiologist and author with a passion for improving care by helping patients understand their heart health through education. Warrick believes educated patients get the best health care. Discover and understand the latest approaches and technology in heart care and how this might apply to you or someone you love. Hi, my name's Dr. Warrick Bishop, and welcome back to the second part of my interview with Greg Page, the original Yellow Wiggle, who we've been discussing his journey through heart disease, cardiac arrest, and myocardial infarction. Thank you, Greg, for joining us for part two. Pleasure. Look, just to recap, we've covered some of the background. We talked about the night. time in hospital and your realisation of how the magnitude of what just had happened by when you realised that you were literally resuscitated and kept alive. During that time in hospital, there must have been things that really surprised you, either from doctors or nurses or procedures, ultrasounds on your heart, drips in. What were the things that really impacted you? Look, nothing, nothing impacted me in a really sort of bad way or negative way. It was, I think I was really overcome with gratefulness to be alive still. And that, you know, I had this second chance to look at my life again and do things differently. because I realized that I almost didn't have that chance. I almost wasn't there. And so the whole time in hospital is also quite a bit of a blur still for me because I don't know whether it's because I had so many people coming and going and visiting and what have you, but yeah, I don't remember a lot of things that happened in hospital. You know, Vanessa will say, oh, do you remember this? And do you remember that? And it's like, not really. I don't really remember that. But the important, Part of this is that what I do remember is getting up and about and being told that I've got to get into cardiac rehab. And that was interesting for me because that started the whole process then of, well, what is cardiac rehab? What do I have to do now to keep my heart functioning well going forward? And so I guess one good thing about that was that cardiac rehab consisted mostly of walking and, you know, exercise and getting the heart rate up to a certain level, not overexerting, but doing enough to sort of make it work and keep it conditioned rather than let it. I guess one thing they've learned over the years is that if you tell people after a cardiac arrest to just lie in bed and don't do anything, the heart will become deconditioned perhaps and it won't necessarily regain its ability to be as strong. So I was really glad to hear that walking was a part of rehab because I, Love my walking and I was really glad to be able to get back out and do that. Tell me, Greg, did rehab roll straight on from the end of your time in hospital and how long were you in hospital for? So I was in hospital for five days and I think I was home for about a week before I went to my first rehab session where, you know, we touched a little bit on diet and they explained to me what had happened within my heart, the physiology of the blockage. why I went into cardiac arrest. Then it was pretty much just about weight checks, body density, I think it would be called, muscle mass versus fat mass, and then stress test. And then, okay, well, here's your walking program. This is what you need to do. Get that heart rate up, walk up hills and do things. And yeah, it was really quite interesting. I was surprised. how hard I had to walk to get my heart rate up to the level that they were sort of saying I should be getting my heart rate to. And that could have been because beta blockers probably, you know, affect the ability of the heart to get up to that sort of 130, 140, well, 140 is probably a bit higher, 133, 134, I think they were talking about getting my heart rate up to that level. And I found that that was quite challenging. I thought, wow. I'm actually having to walk harder than I did before I had my cardiac arrest. And, you know, I'm passing all these people on the walking track that, you know, are out exercising and I've just had a cardiac arrest and I'm overtaking them trying to get my heart rate up. Tell me, so for those listening who don't know what a beta blocker is, they're the tablets that dampen down the sympathetic nervous system. And what that means is the fight or flight nervous system, the one that... makes your heart race and makes your legs ready to run or fight. So beta blockers dampen that down and they reduce your risk of subsequent heart attack or cardiac arrest. But tell me, Greg, you obviously understand a little bit more about medicine now and you're obviously on a few medications. What's your understanding of your medications? Can you tell me what you're on? Do you carry a list as I always ask my patients to? And can you explain what each medication is for? Well, I think I can. In the morning, I have an anticoagulant tablet, which is designed, I'll be on that one for probably the first year since my cardiac arrest. And that is to stop the chance of re-stenosis of the stent. So to stop the blood clotting around the stent itself that's inside the artery. And I'm on aspirin as well. That's a blood thinner. That's to sort of stop. the chance of a blood clot sort of generally happening, I guess, not specifically to do with the stent. And I'll be on aspirin probably for the rest of my life. So on those two, then... So before you jump onto the next one, I'll help you with that so that those listening can also learn a bit. The aspirin and the other tablet you're on are both to stop the stickiness of the small particles in the blood that can promote clot formation or clot forming on the stent. and so aspirin you'll be on for life because it'll stop clot forming in the arteries for life and we're doubling it up for about a year during the time that the stent is most likely exposed to the contents of the blood until the lining of the blood vessel where the stent has been implanted grows over that stent and then you can stop the second agent so they work together they're called dual antiplatelet agents. Dual antiplatelet, there you go. But yeah, they're blood thinners, correct. Okay. In the morning, I'm also on a dose, a smaller dose of the beta blocker and a potassium tablet and two magnesium tablets. So the beta blocker is, as you said before, to give the heart a chance to rest so it doesn't get the heart rate up too high and also to prevent that chance of a potential. follow-up cardiac arrest. The potassium and the magnesium are, I guess, electrolytes. Is that how we would put it? Yeah, because having irregularities in your electrolytes can also lead to the chance of cardiac arrest in patients too. Are you on a cholesterol tablet? Yes, that's nighttime. So nighttime is cholesterol. Another beta blocker, so a higher dose of the beta blocker at nighttime. more magnesium, and I think that's it in terms of sort of medications. There's a couple of other things I take as well, which is like a COQ10 or Q10CO. Oh, yeah, coenzyme Q10. So for those listening, coenzyme Q10 is also referred to as ubequinone, and that's part of an enzymatic system which is involved with energy production right throughout the body. And there's some nice literature which might suggest it's helpful for hearts. But if you feel, and it can be beneficial for people taking statins to reduce the risk of side effect. It's a nice supplement. It's not supported by the PBS, but your local health food store or chemist will help you with it. Yep. And the other one that I have too is like a, I think it's called Hawthorne. Oh yeah. Natural. Blood pressure lowering. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So that's. pretty much my list of meds and my understanding of what they do. Yeah, good. Now, the rehab program you went to, how long did that run for, Greg? That was six weeks. And I did what they call the home walking program. So rather than going every week to the rehab centre at the hospital, they said that, you know, because of, I guess, who I am, was I comfortable going in there? And I just... I'd just rather walk at home. So if I could do a home walking program, yeah, I'd rather do that. So that for six weeks. And as I said, the first visit, they did a stress test and everything in that stress test, yeah, it's more or less fine. There was no concerns. Then at the end of the six weeks, we did another stress test to put them on the treadmill again with the ECG and there'd been some improvements. So this is where I've got to try and remember what it was. I think it was the T, there was a T wave inversion. on my first ECG. Does that sound right? A T-wave? Yep. So that had corrected itself by the end of the six-week rehab thing. So that was back to normal. So they were pretty happy about that. And, yeah, I could get, you know, there was no problem with my sort of physical fitness in either of those stress tests. So I'm very, very fortunate that I think the fact that I was so fit relatively before... I had my cardiac arrest. I think that played a big part in my ability to bounce back. And look, the worst part about it for me was the broken ribs for the six or seven weeks after the event from the CPR. And I do remember having a kind of uncomfortable feeling in the chest for probably that six or seven weeks that I don't know, it might've hung on a little bit past that. So I don't know whether that was my heart feeling a bit. Funny, I don't know, but that's gone now. So at the time I just thought it was my ribs, but it's definitely a different feeling and I can remember what it felt like. So I'm not too sure what that was, but it's all good now. It can take about eight weeks for bones to heal. So it can be a while. And normally there's not too much leftover pain from the heart per se. Very occasionally. the sac around the heart can become inflamed after a heart attack. And we get a thing called pericarditis, but that's a very sharp and localised pain that changes with position. It doesn't sound like you had that. I don't know what it was, but look, maybe it was just to do with the ribs, but that's all gone now. And I'm like, yeah, I feel better than a hundred percent. Did, did they tell you if there was damage to your heart muscle, Greg, or not sure about that? Yes, so the ejection fraction, is that what they call it? The LVEF, the left ventricle ejection fraction. Now, I've got to try and remember the numbers here because I know it's gone back into the normal range. What's the bottom end of the normal range? Is it 45% or is it 35? Yeah, 45 or below. About 60-odd is about normal. Okay. Well, I think it was, I think it was, maybe it was 45%. umming and ahhing about whether or not to put a icd in an internal defibrillator yes because it was 45 it was kind of borderline they thought they won't worry about it then after all the rehab the ejection fraction went back up and oh gosh as i said i can't remember but it's now back up into a more normal range it might be like 55 now i think 50 percent 55 the lower end of normal range which is great actually That's good news for you. Yeah. I was going to say, with your heart coming back towards normal, what about you, yourself? When did you start to feel that you're back to normal? Obviously, you had this come in the chest. But separate to that, when did you feel like you were back on normal? Straight away, to be honest. Pretty much straight away. I was very fortunate. Really? Yeah. So we've gone through your rehab, the event, what led up to the event, and now we're really sort of in the here and now. How has this impacted your life, Greg? Because it's a big thing. Yeah, look, it is a big thing. And I think just... I view every day now as a bonus, but I have a mission and I'm still doing the other things that I used to do. And that is, you know, still working in the children's entertainment field and trying to do what I can to produce shows for children. But I'm now on a mission to educate older people as well about heart disease and cardiac arrest and the difference between cardiac arrest and heart attack and CPR and AED. So I think... Given that stat about how many people survive a cardiac arrest and the fact that it is so low, I think we've got a long way to go in terms of educating people about response to cardiac arrest and improving those outcomes for people. So more people knowing CPR, more people having AEDs available and knowing where they are and how to use them. So there's a big mission there for me that I really feel compelled to be contributing towards. For those listening who are not up with the jargon or the shortened or abbreviated term, CPR and AED stands for what, Greg? Well, CPR is cardiopulmonary resuscitation and AED stands for automated external defibrillator. And so one of the big things about AEDs or those defibrillators that people probably don't understand They are not a medical grade device. I mean, they are, but you don't need to be qualified or certified to be able to use one to save a life. So just as on the night that I needed to be shocked with an AED, there was a nurse there, but any one of those bystanders that was around could have used that AED to shock my heart back into a normal rhythm. And that's what people need to know, that you can't actually hurt somebody. by using an AED on them because it will not shock somebody that doesn't need to be shocked. The pads that you place on the chest of the patient will determine whether or not that patient needs to be shocked or not. And the AED talks to you and tells you what to do. So it will only say push the shock button if it needs to deliver a shock to that patient. And you can't be harmed from that either. I mean, from a completely practical point of view, CPR and AED saved your life, Greg. That's the only reason we're talking. Yep, absolutely. Because if you don't start CPR within the first, well, I've heard within the first three minutes, after that, your brain will start to die because there's only enough oxygen within your blood to keep your organs oxygenated for around three minutes. So if that blood isn't pumping around the body, then it's not going to keep things going. It's a really important process. Now, we talked about this before, and there's a little bit of a story about the AED that saved your life. It wasn't necessarily right up to date. Do you want to tell me more about that? Yeah, so the AED that was used on me was 10 years old, and the AEDs are only warranted for eight years. Now, this one was out of warranty for two years. Doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, but it just wasn't brand new. It was 10 years old, never been used before. And thank God, the one time that it was and needed to be used, it was working perfectly and brought me back to life. So yeah, they are amazing devices. And I had never really known much about them before January. I know a lot about them now. And I want more people to be in my position. without having to go through what I've been through to find out about it. So, you know, it's one of those things that you think, oh gosh, I'm never going to need to know CPR. I'm never, what are the chances? You know, I'm not going to need to know how to use an AED, but let me tell you, if you're standing next to somebody who needs CPR and you're the only person there, you don't know what to do. I think you're going to feel pretty disempowered and helpless. So get to know CPR. Any attempt at resuscitation is better than no attempt. So the more familiar you are with it, the more chance you have of feeling confident to save a life if you need to. Greg, I know that this event has really changed some of your focus and direction. You've alluded to the mission you're now on to really educate people and raise awareness. And actually, I share the same passion. I think trying to stop people from... Dying from heart attacks in the first place is incredibly powerful. Trying to save people if they do have a problem is incredibly powerful. But tell me a little bit more about what you're doing in that space now. So I've started up an initiative called Heart of the Nation because I believe there is this real lack of understanding about AEDs in the community and where you can find them if you need them. Because after my heart event... I went to my local Bunnings and I stood in the store and I looked on the wall and I saw an AED. And I thought, hang on, I've stood next to that cabinet on the wall many times before January and I had no idea it was even there, let alone what was inside of it. So until you're aware of these things, you don't know what these life-saving devices are, where they are, or how to find them. So Heart of the Nation is really like that. Australian Made program with the little logo that goes on Australian Made products. Any company, business, community group, whoever you might be, if you've got an AED on site, you can become a member of Heart of the Nation and you can display our stickers on your doors or windows. People don't have to go inside your business to know that you've got an AED. They can be walking past, see the Heart of the Nation sticker and get to know that that is a place. or a location where an AED can be found if you ever need to use one. So people are coming on board with the program now. We've got some amazing members signing up. And one of the most recent ones is Twin Towns Clubs and Resorts in Queensland. They're sort of on the New South Wales. They're on the border between Queensland and New South Wales, a very famous group of clubs up there. They have AEDs and they've signed up now. They want to be recognised as a community hub that's looking after the community by having AEDs available to be used when needed. So they're going to be putting Heart of the Nation stickers on their doors. We're talking with Coles at the moment. We're talking with Bunnings. There's many people that are signing up to this program because they understand, they have seen the difference that is made. since they've had AEDs in their stores. So they know that AEDs can save lives. More people just need to know about it and need to know where to find one if they ever need to save a life. You couldn't begin to imagine the tragedy for someone who had an event, had a cardiac arrest, and there was, in fact, an AED on the premise, but no one knew about it. It hadn't been... the awareness of its location hadn't been made obvious or public to people. Obviously, your life was saved because someone knew where the AED was and some... Someone had thought to have an AED on site for the location you were at. That's it. Yeah. So that's really what it's about. It's about promoting businesses that are doing the right thing to keep people heart safe and heart healthy in the fact that they have the AED and they want it to be available to save lives. So I want to promote that because I've been the beneficiary of an AED working well and I want other people to benefit the same way. So I think that I think. Those listening will watch this space and they'll see Hearts of the Nation popping up everywhere from what you're talking about. And I think it's a great initiative and whatever I can do to support you, I would be delighted to be involved because I think it's great. I'm going to swing it around just a little bit because there's a couple of other things I want to touch on. One of my own areas of interest is trying to stop people having a problem in the first place. And as a 48-year-old male, I would put to you that in cardiology terms, we see you as a premature coronary artery disease or someone who's at high risk for whatever reason. We don't know. But I, in my preventative role, with my preventative hat on, would want to say, well, what about your brothers or sisters? Have they been checked out? And has anyone spoken with you about that, Greg? No, you have mentioned it, and I've spoken to my sister about it, but I don't know what she's done about it, actually. She's having a birthday in a couple of weeks, so I better make sure that she sees a doctor before her birthday, because if my track records anything to go by, I don't want her to have her birthday and then have something go wrong the next day. But, yes, look, I know she is on top of her health. because she has a couple of other issues that she's got to look at. But in terms of cardio vascular types of issues, I'm not sure. I better ask her about that and make sure that she's seeing somebody who has her best interests at heart. Yeah, well, I like the at heart bit, but I think it's better safe than sorry. And looking at family members really closes that loop of rehab in a really sensible way and just really ask that question so that people don't get surprised. That is a bit of a... Soapbox for me. Look, I'll wrap up. I think we're coming close to the end. So a couple more questions. Have you noticed, we'll move away from Hearts of the Nation, but have you noticed in your own mood, relationships, interactions, has that been affected by this event? Or are you back in the same sort of headspace again? Look, I'm not in the same headspace because if anything, I think I'm probably in a better headspace. I'm back in a much more grateful headspace. I've always been a very positive person and I'm not one to let things, you know, get me down. And I think because of my profile, because of the sort of the attention that the event got. I've realised that I've got to use that now as a platform to try and save more lives. Because if I don't, I don't think I'd be doing other people a service, let alone feeling like I'm actually being productive. And I like to be productive and helpful to people. So, you know, this has, you look at the event that happened and the fact I was gone for 20 minutes, 25 minutes with CPR being performed. the chances of surviving were pretty slim. It's only that they did start CPR straight away and they did very good CPR. And I got through that and, of course, the AED. But with only roughly 10% of people surviving, there's not many people that have the profile that I have that can now use that experience as a platform to help save other lives. So if I didn't do that, I think I'd feel like I was not really... fulfilling my obligations to the community and serving the community in the way that I can do. And I'd feel a bit, I don't know. I don't know. I think I've just got to use it and make something positive happen. Yeah. Look, for anyone listening to this or who has the chance to read this when we put it in print eventually, are there any particular things you, any, specific points or jewels that you want to share with them, any messages? Yeah, look, I think live every day as if it could be your last because you just don't know. But at the same time, live it as if you don't want it to be your last because life is an incredible gift. Like I absolutely love life. I think life is a creative experience where you get back from it what you put into it and what you imagine life to be in your head is what it can be. You've just got to make it happen. It doesn't come along and give you it. You've got to create it. So if you want to live an amazing life, you can do it. So live it today because there might not be a tomorrow. But if there is a tomorrow, Make sure it's the best it can be. So act now to get your heart checked out so you don't have that one in 10 chance of surviving a cardiac arrest if you're on the floor. That's the only message I would say. Take care of yourself, everybody. That's what I would say. And we're pretty close to the end, but... In your journey, is there anyone specifically you'd like to recognise or thank for their help, support, care, love? Oh, yeah, absolutely. There's numerous people. We probably don't have time. A couple. Give us a couple. Look, let me start with my wife, Vanessa. You know, look, she's been there from day one before the event, trying to look after my heart with me. And I probably didn't listen as much as I should have. She's there and she's stood by me and she's still there today looking after me, making sure that I'm healthy and happy. Obviously, I want to thank the people that stepped in on the night and resuscitated me and kept me alive until the paramedics arrived. I want to thank Castle, I'll just name those people, Steve Pace, Kim Antonelli, Grace Jones and Therese Wales. They're the four angels who were by my side that night keeping me going. Castle Hill RSL Club for having an AED and the paramedics who turned up. right on time and, you know, did whatever they did. I'm not even aware of what they did, but they all contributed to the fact that I'm still here. So as brief as that can be, I want to thank all those people for playing their part in my life and the mission that I'm on now to help save others' lives as well. Look, we're going to wrap it up there, I think, Greg. Thank you so much for sharing. For those listening, I'm sure you've... really felt some of the experience that Greg's honestly and openly shared. I mean, this really is an incredible journey for anyone to go through. So I really do appreciate you sharing it. Say goodbye, Greg. Goodbye, everybody. Thank you for listening. And Warrick, thank you so much for your time and your interest in giving this space for people to hear it. That's a pleasure. All right. Thank you so much for those who have tuned in. Thank you for listening. As always, I wish you the very best and until next time, of course, please don't have a heart attack. Goodbye. You have been listening to another podcast from Dr. Warrick. Visit his website at drWarrickbishop.com for the latest news on heart disease. If you love this podcast, feel free to leave us a review.
