from the PacMasters Update Email
Ross Shoemaker, RIP
1942-2007
Ross Shoemaker died suddenly at the Senior Games following one of his swims. Ross had collapsed on the deck, and was not able to be revived. It is a terrible loss - Ross was a longtime member of the San Mateo Marlins, a warm and supportive man, and a devoted swimmer with an encouraging word for everyone.
Ross coached at Chabot Junior College for many years. Services are pending.
I don't think I need to point out the frequncy with which these unfortunate events have been occuring recently. Should active swimmers be getting stress echos or something as they get older? Are simple BP and lipid screens simply not enough?
Former Member
from the PacMasters Update Email
Ross Shoemaker, RIP
1942-2007
Ross Shoemaker died suddenly at the Senior Games following one of his swims. Ross had collapsed on the deck, and was not able to be revived. It is a terrible loss - Ross was a longtime member of the San Mateo Marlins, a warm and supportive man, and a devoted swimmer with an encouraging word for everyone.
Ross coached at Chabot Junior College for many years. Services are pending.
I don't think I need to point out the frequncy with which these unfortunate events have been occuring recently. Should active swimmers be getting stress echos or something as they get older? Are simple BP and lipid screens simply not enough?
Another loss? It's very sad.
Secondly, It think it's a fair point Matt, but you can only adivse people to do so.
Speaking of sleep, how many people do die while "sleeping". Maybe sleep is dangerous?
In fact, perhaps sleeping may be more dangerous than swimming based on percentages of deaths that occur during the specific activity? :angel:
Me :notworking: , you?
As some of you know from prior posts, I have recently returned to swimming competitively a little less than two years following a heart attack. I am now 46. I passed a stress test with flying colors, and my good cholesterol is 59 and my bad is 70. My weight is better. I feel great. I swim 15 to 20k a week, and am beginning to do more speed work, which leads to higher heart rates. Of course this flurry of cardiac events does give me pause. But I have decided that competition is part of reclaiming my self-image as an athlete; if I do not tether the activity to training to compete, I will not be able to sustain it. I guess it's an excess of goal-oriented behavior, but there it is. I will be eager to learn more as things progress about the "vulnerable plaque" testing, which poses the danger as I understand it.
...I would prefer to not meet my demise with a combination of intense pectoral/chest angina and drowning. Maybe I am just a wimp....
How would you rather go? An extended stay in a hospital bed looking like a scarecrow with a bunch of tubes and wires and stuff connected to you? Where's the humanity and dignity in that?
I'm sure drowning and heart attacks can't be pleasant, but they seem relatively quick and painless compared to many other options.
I can only wish to be 92y/o and doing 1.5km/day.
And I can only hope to die with my goggles on (though it'd probably freak out the lifeguards).
:cool:
How would you rather go? An extended stay in a hospital bed looking like a scarecrow with a bunch of tubes and wires and stuff connected to you? Where's the humanity and dignity in that?
:cool:
Uh...no. I was thinking something more along the lines of in my sleep, in an OR, etc.
Anyhow, if avoiding a high risk activity like competition gives me another 4-5 years of quality time with my wife, kids, and grandkids I will gladly take the extended hospital stay at the end of it all. Seems like a small price to pay in my mind.
I suspect that if these individuals had not suffered cardiac arrest when they did (while swimming), it would have happened at some other time, perhaps that night during sleep. Studies looking at the incidence of heart attacks around the time of natural disasters suggest that the emotional stress involved (another important trigger of cardiac events) just causes the heart attack to occur a bit earlier than it would have otherwise.
While there are fates worse than sudden death, prevention is still a worthy goal. That having been said, I'm not convinced that avoidance of strenuous activity is the answer. You'd also need to eliminate emotional stress, natural disasters, etc.
And I can only hope to die with my goggles on...
Years ago there was a swimmer in my LMSC who died after a workout. He had gotten into the hot tub at the YMCA after swimming and had a heart attack. One of his sons was quoted as saying, "Leave it to Dad to figure out a way to die in his Speedo."
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