#1653 Cottage Cheese Burps
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Matt shares his shocking, symptom-light journey to an unexpected quadruple-bypass—burping to diagnosis, surgery, recovery, family impact—and why proactive cardiac screening can save lives.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Welcome back, friends to another episode of The Juicebox podcast.
Matt Fouse 0:14
My name is Matt Faust and I am a 41 year old type one diabetic who just underwent a quadruple bypass, open heart surgery, completely unannounced and surprised. So that is what I will be discussing on today, this episode,
Scott Benner 0:39
this episode of The Juicebox podcast is brought to you by my favorite diabetes organization, touched by type one. Please take a moment to learn more about them at touched by type one.org, on Facebook and Instagram. Touched by type one.org. Check out their many programs, their annual conference awareness campaign, their D box program dancing for diabetes. They have a dance program for local kids, a golf night and so much more touched by type one.org. You're looking to help or you want to see people helping people with type one. You want touched by type one.org. Nothing you hear on the Juicebox podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan. I'm having an on body vibe alert. This episode of The Juicebox podcast is sponsored by ever since 365 the only one year wear CGM that's one insertion and one CGM a year, one CGM one year, not every 10 or 14 days ever since cgm.com/juicebox this episode of The Juicebox podcast is sponsored by Omnipod five. Omnipod five is a tube, free, automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a 1c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections, learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox at my link, you can get a free starter kit right now. Terms and Conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox omnipod.com/juicebox,
Matt Fouse 2:23
my name is Matt Faust, and I am a 41 year old type one diabetic who just underwent a quadruple bypass, open heart surgery, completely unannounced and surprised. So that is what I will be discussing on today. This episode
Scott Benner 2:44
awesome. And Matt, for those of you who are longtime listeners, was on episode 405. How we eat plant based? Oh, Matt, did you have you been eating plant based all this time, and you had heart surgery? What's going on?
Speaker 1 2:58
So, yeah,
Matt Fouse 3:00
I was eating plant based, you know, when we talked 12, that was during covid, and then we had kid number two, who is now going to be five. Wow. Goodness gracious. And, you know, I took a little break here and there in between. You know, busy, two kids, everybody, having a different diet is kind of difficult in the house, but for the most part, we eat plant based in our house, my 10 year old does not eat meat. She'll eat like cheeses, things like that. But generally, very healthy eater, you know, very minimal red meat intake. The only red meat, like, if I decide to eat it will be venison, which is a leaner meat, because I'm you'll laugh. I'm a hunting vegan. I love to deer hunt on my property.
Scott Benner 3:59
So Matt, give people context for that, though. Like, how do you become a vegan, I guess, for At what age? Just so, like, I don't want to rehash your entire other episode, but just give people, like, a quick overview.
Matt Fouse 4:11
Yeah, so it, it gradually happened. You know, I gave up red meat for the majority of the time, and then pork. And then I'm like, Well, I we eat fish on occasion. I We, you know, I live in Maryland, so gotta eat the blue crabs. You know, if maybe once a summer,
Scott Benner 4:33
what makes you think to yourself, like, I'm gonna stop eating meat? Is it a social feeling? Is it, you know, something about how you're you notice with your health, or,
Matt Fouse 4:42
yeah, overall health, I just feel cleaner inside, if that makes sense, like my body feels like it's doing a better job at what it's supposed to be doing. When I don't eat meat, I feel like my inflammation is down the. The brain fog is kind of gone.
Speaker 1 5:02
Gotcha, it is not out of a PETA
Matt Fouse 5:06
animal rights way. Like I said, I am a hunting vegan, so I do kill animals.
Scott Benner 5:13
Do you eat the venison because you feel like, oh, I hunted it. I'd like to eat it, or because you are trying to add some meat in periodically
Matt Fouse 5:21
both. So I grew up hunting as a kid in the sticks of Central Pennsylvania. We we got off a week of school after Thanksgiving to hunt, specifically like in our school district. So I grew up doing it when I moved to Maryland, I kind of continued to hunt. Now I'm in the suburbs of Baltimore. I have, you know, a nice wooded area, like 1000s of acres that I back up to. It just has unlimited deer, white tail deer. Nobody hunts around here. I kind of do my part. You know, you're either going to hit them with your car or I will hunt them, is kind of my thought. And it is a very healthy lean meat, yeah, you know, less fat than, like, beef, okay, it is delicious, but I have my like ritual, like, if I bag of deer during hunting season. You know, you have to got it. I take the heart out, because true schnitzel uses calls for venison heart. So I make schnitzel the night that I get a deer. That's kind of my thing. Okay, the family does not eat the schnitzel, but I would say, out of a year, I may eat meat three to four times. Okay, okay, if that. And then I donate the deer, the butcher, I go to, you can like checklist on it, donate, and they just donate it to local food banks, which is, you know, kind of doing my part.
Scott Benner 7:02
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. Remind people how old you were when you were diagnosed. I was
Matt Fouse 7:07
four years old, so that would have been 1988
Scott Benner 7:13
How old are you now?
Matt Fouse 7:14
I'm for I am 4141
Scott Benner 7:18
Matt, describe to me your level of care as a child growing up, etc. Like, what? What were a one CS like through the first 20 years?
Matt Fouse 7:29
Yeah. So growing up, I had an amazing doctor. He did everything that he could do in our small town for me and my sister is also type one. We did what we could. I remember the first glucometer that we got as a family. I used to, you know, pee on sticks to test my sugar as a kid. So you did what you kind of did. We had very crude insulin, cumulon n and cumulon R, which I just look back and I'm like, I have no idea how my mother did it. Right the time of activation was, what, like, six hours or something like that. I think growing up, my a 1c were pretty relatively stable. You know, I think they were usually, like, under eight. When I moved out, I was in high school, 18 years old. I moved to Baltimore. That's when I got my first endocrinologist that that was kind of unheard of in a small town, like an endocrinologist. What? What's that? Yeah, and then I kind of learned the techniques, you know, he's like, you know, every diabetic now is on an insulin pump. You need to be on an insulin pump. And I was doing just, you know, needles and glucometers. Now I'm looping, thanks to listening to your podcast, Penny Fox, my, I have not had an A, 1c, under 5.5 and probably six years
Scott Benner 9:09
for you man, maybe, do you work with Kenny? Or do you, do you mean, like from listening to him in the podcast? Or do you work with
Matt Fouse 9:15
him, just listening like, you know, listening to all the looping in the what is it looping in Fox, in the loop house, or whatever the episodes you have of him? Yeah, kind of learning what to look at. And, I mean, it's kind of down to a science. Now. It's like, I know if I eat this food, what to do, right? It's rare to get high sugars. You know, sometimes you can't help it if
Scott Benner 9:39
you're sick, about a five five? Yeah, I'm at about a
Matt Fouse 9:41
five, five, my last, but, well, so my last a 1c was the lowest I've ever had. It. I had a 4.7 and that was on the blood work previous to going into the hospital. Because, you know, they like to do all their labs before you do surgery. And that was 4.7 Right, jeez. And the surgeon came in who was gonna do the heart surgery, and she just goes, Wait a second, you're diabetic. Wait, but you have a 4.7 that's not diabetic. And I was like, oh yeah. And then she's like, well, we're gonna have you take levamere previous to surgery, we'll do an insulin drip during surgery. But I think you probably know more than the people here at the hospital, so we're going to just let you take care of yourself when you're in the
Scott Benner 10:30
hospital. They said, Listen, I know this is surprising, but there's a guy named Scott. He's got a podcast. There's a guy named Ken. These dudes online, these ladies, they made this algorithm. It's on my phone. Like it must sound crazy to people, you know?
Matt Fouse 10:43
Yeah, I was explaining what I do to the doctor taking care of me in the hospital. Just the internist. He was like, wait, you have a 4.7
Speaker 1 10:55
a 1c, is that? Am I looking at that right? And how do you do that. And I was like, so
Matt Fouse 11:01
basically, there's this group of people on the internet that designs this code, and I just really trust them. It's not FDA approved, and I get this patch of software and I download it on my computer on, you know, it sounds completely bogus, of course. No, no. But he's
Speaker 1 11:20
like, and your endocrinologist is okay with this? And I was like, oh, even better,
Matt Fouse 11:27
he had me give a talk to all the endocrinologists at the hospital that he teaches at. So the sugars are just, you know, I'm like, non diabetic. Basically, that's awesome in that area, this whole thing of I needed heart surgery was complete shock to
Scott Benner 11:47
me. Tell me, Matt, is there, are there heart issues in the family? Or do you think this was earlier diabetes care catching up to you somehow? Is there any, any feeling for what might have happened?
Matt Fouse 11:59
Yeah, there is bad genetic lottery. My mother had a heart attack at I want to say she was like in her 40s. 47 she survived. She's still alive. And her father, she never met him. He died at 39 of a heart attack, which would have been in the, what, 50s, and at that time, like open heart surgery was didn't even exist. So even if he would have caught something, they would have been like, well, sorry, you know that's your heart doesn't work. Yeah, tough luck. Yeah, see you later. And I think my dad's dad also had a heart attack. So jeez, it's in the family which you get that card. It's kind of, you do what you can do and you hope for the best. Yeah, is kind of all you can
Scott Benner 12:53
do. So was this a thing you were keeping track of with a cardiologist? Or, you know, because, I mean, you're coming up on the age where it happened to a great grandfather, it happened to your mom. Like, was this on your radar or no? Today's episode is brought to you by Omnipod. We talk a lot about ways to lower your a 1c on this podcast, did you know that the Omnipod five was shown to lower a 1c that's right. Omnipod five is a tube, free, automated insulin delivery system, and it was shown to significantly improve a 1c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they switched from daily injections. My daughter is about to turn 21 years old, and she has been wearing an Omnipod every day since she was four. It has been a friend to our family, and I think it could be a friend to yours. If you're ready to try Omnipod five for yourself or your family, use my link now to get started. Omnipod.com/juicebox get that free. Omnipod five Starter Kit today. Terms and Conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox CDE comm slash Juicebox. This episode of The Juicebox podcast is sponsored by ever since 365 and just as the name says, it lasts for a full year, imagine for a second a CGM with just one sensor placement and one warm up period every year. Imagine a sensor that has exceptional accuracy over that year and is actually the most accurate CGM in the low range that you can get. What if I told you that this sensor had no risk of falling off or being knocked off? That may seem too good to be true, but I'm not even done telling you about it yet. The ever since 365 has essentially no compression lows. It features incredibly gentle adhesive for its transmitter. You can take the transmitter off when you don't want to wear your CGM and put it right back on without having to waste a sensor or go through another warm up period. The app works with iOS and Android, even Apple Watch. You can manage your diabetes instead of your CGM with the ever set. 365, learn more and get started today at ever since cgm.com/juicebox, one year, one CGM, no,
Matt Fouse 15:10
absolutely not. I knew heart issues were in the family. You know, my endocrinologist always tests everything he should, cholesterol, all that stuff. It was always within levels that wasn't like, we got to do something. Hit the brakes. We got to send you to a cardiologist tomorrow. The whole thing started of me seeing a cardiologist because, on top of, like, you know, taking care of myself as a diabetic. I'm also a, like, marathon runner. I've run marathons, many I can't tell you how many I've run in the past. So I run. I exercise daily. And while exercising and running, when my heart rate would get up to, like, 130s I would start burping, and I'm like, Oh, this is really annoying, I guess, now that I'm old, I have GERD or something. I went to a GI doctor, and I'm like, Well, I think I have something, based off of me being a professional internet Doctor, I have a hernia or GERD. So they did, did all the tests, stomach scope that came back completely clear. Everything on their end was like, you're fine. We don't know. You know why you would be burping, yeah, while you're exercising, yeah, burping, yeah, yeah. And it was, it was annoying. So I'm really close with my endocrinologist. We're kind of like friends, and he's like, just to, like, roll things out. Why don't we just send you to a cardiologist? So I made an appointment, and this, this wasn't even that long ago, probably now we're going on maybe six months ago from today. Made an appointment. They did all the stuff the cardiologist, amazing. He kind of like, yeah, you have a family history. Your cholesterol is fine, but we'll, we'll send you to do like a cardiac CAT scan. And what that does is, it's very simple test, and most insurances will not cover it. But even out of pocket, I think you pay it might be $200 for the test, and that will show calcification of the heart. And what calcification shows is usually plaque. It's like hardening, and it will just show and it will give them an overall score. It goes by, you know, your heart chambers and the score will kind of be like, Oh, you're you're screwed. You got to go get heart surgery. Or, you know, maybe we should dive into this.
Speaker 1 17:53
Okay, mine was in
Matt Fouse 17:56
the moderate, so it wasn't like alarming, but it definitely made the cardiologist do more testing, so he scheduled a nuclear stress test, which they have you run on the treadmill, and you're hooked up to all these wires that they can read your heart rate and your rhythm, and then they put you in, I think it's like A CAT scan area after you run, and they inject something that makes your heart like glow, and it shows like, hot and cold spots of your heart, which is, you know, shows blockages, because if it's blocked, it's going to be cold. Area is going to be cold. Okay, yeah, yep, yep, that came back abnormal. And I was like, Oh man, holy crap. What's this is annoying? Yeah, I'm thinking, okay, maybe, maybe I have something in there clogged, and they'll put a stand in. It will be good. That failing of the test prompted a catheterization, which is, it's invasive,
Scott Benner 19:00
it's they go up through your groin. Is that that?
Matt Fouse 19:03
Well, now they go through your wrist. Really, though it's amazing technology. You're sitting there. They numb everything. It's pretty painless, honestly. They numb your wrist. They go up through it, and they can they're basically like playing a video game where they can see everything in live time you're watching them, and you're like, oh, wow, that's my heart. Like, in real time, it's, it's crazy, wow. So the the first catheterization, I'm like, Okay, this adventure, it's going to be over today. Like, they'll put a stint in. I'll get back to running without burping. I'll be great. It'll be good. Yep, be happy to have this over. They disappear for a while. Man, what's taking so long? A surgeon, they had a consult, and she's like, Yeah, pretty much all of your pipes go into your heart are completely. Groups. They were like, you know, 90 cents, and I can't tell you, like, the amount of shock, like my wife and I had that day, yeah, well, you're really young. She's like, Yeah, we're scheduled. We're scheduling surgery. Yeah, I was her second youngest heart surgery that she had.
Scott Benner 20:19
Yeah, they were gone so long because they were out looking for a for an ER to pull you into,
Matt Fouse 20:23
yeah, basically. And that's the crazy, scary thing. Like, I'm exercising daily, right? Like, every single day, and come home, I split firewood, I work outside, I mow the lawn, you know, I'm shoveling snow in the wintertime, right? Like, I'm very active and I'm very healthy, like I'm within my body weight that I'm supposed to be. You look at me, and it's like,
Scott Benner 20:50
your measurables. Look, this guy's getting quadruple Yeah,
Speaker 1 20:53
yeah, which was just
Matt Fouse 20:57
like the biggest shock at I was 40. I came home two days before my 41st birthday from the hospital. Yeah, she's like, Yeah, we're scheduling. I got an opening in two days. So I went from, you know this is going to be over, to oh my gosh, yeah, it's quite a recovery. Then I have to stay in the hospital for a week.
Scott Benner 21:19
Let me ask you a couple of questions, though. So you have heart disease in your family, like, and people have been having heart attacks, and you've had type one diabetes since you were a kid. These are two things. These are contributing factors to having heart issues. Like, so does she like? The surgeon, first of all, described what the blockages were like, that, you say 90% blocked.
Matt Fouse 21:40
Oh, that. I think there were more more. Yeah, okay, I don't know how I've survived so long, because i This doesn't happen overnight. This, this is, you know, ongoing.
Scott Benner 21:51
Yeah, Were you tired or No, no, no,
Matt Fouse 21:55
was not. That's what. Nothing. There was no other symptoms besides burping. You know, that's I'm so happy you had me on here, because it's like, I posted this. You know, I'm pretty, like, not reserved with my health, but I don't go out and, like, tell everybody about I gotta, yeah, tell everybody about everything. I usually keep my diabetes stuff to myself. You know, if somebody asks me, like, I'll tell them, but I'm not gonna go blab everything. Sure, I put this on, like, my personal Facebook, I had so many friends message me and they're like, Man,
Speaker 1 22:31
this is just crazy. I made
Matt Fouse 22:33
an appointment with a cardiologist because, like, I just wanted to get things checked out. And I had a couple people be like, I'm so glad you put that on, because it prompted me to make an appointment, and my cardiac CT scan came back elevated. I guess once you're a certain age, you just got a jack Benner like, even if you're not having symptoms, because
Speaker 1 22:53
you could be one step away from hearing those stories of like, man so and so was on the floor wrestling with his kids, and he
Matt Fouse 23:03
just died. You know that that happens every single day, so I'm just so glad that they found it, because I would have been one of those. Can you believe Matt died? Because, oh
Scott Benner 23:15
no, yeah, for sure. Yeah, you people have been like he was in his early 40s. Are you sure about like, that kind of thing, Matt, did they tell you what the blockages are made of. Like, I listen, I'm not a surgeon, or really, I have no expertise in anything. But, you know, we talk about a lot of times where high blood sugars can make, you know, small damaging things inside of veins and arteries. Then your body kind of patches them back over, and eventually those patches create a blockage. But also, there are people who just, you know, through diet and lack of exercise and whatnot, else will will have blockages that are made up more of it's not so much the scar tissue like Did they discuss with you what your blockages look like?
Matt Fouse 23:54
Yeah, the surgeon, she is an amazing surgeon. She told me, when she was doing the surgery, that my arteries were like cottage cheese. She said they just were soupy and falling apart when she, like, was sewing the new arteries in. So basically, you can take care of yourself, but a lifetime of diabetes is going to do damage. You know, with the Think of all the times you're sick every single year, it might be a couple times, but I'm sure when that happens, that you have it scars over it, scars over it, scars of next thing you know, your arteries are crap.
Scott Benner 24:36
You also had, you know, a one sees that for the time were good, but you don't want eight, nine, A, one CS for a couple of decades, which is maybe what you were living with as a young kid. And, yeah, yeah, definitely. And when did you figure out, like, looping? And how long ago would you say, Oh, I figured it out. And my a, one, CS came down and got stable. How old were you then?
Matt Fouse 24:57
I've been looping. I'm trying to. Think I had the first Riley link that was, it seems so crude now, that you had to, like, plug into the, like, USB, yeah, mini plug. So, like, what's that? Five or six years, maybe.
Scott Benner 25:14
But is that about how long you previous?
Speaker 1 25:17
Yeah? No, no, no. So
Matt Fouse 25:20
even previous to that on a pump, like, even when I was just doing shots, I had a one CS in the like, 5.6 5.7 5.8
Scott Benner 25:31
take, like, your lifetime with diabetes in years, and tell me how many years were you in the eights until you found a different like, I'm trying to just figure out, like, how long you were in the eights before you figured things
Matt Fouse 25:44
out. I would say from when I moved out as an adult 18. Okay, so
Scott Benner 25:51
to your first 14, four to 18.
Matt Fouse 25:54
Yeah, it could have been a crap shoot, like, I mean, and it was, this is what it is. You know, I had maybe sevens, eights, I can't remember, but it was, it wasn't fives and sixes.
Scott Benner 26:05
And I want to say to a seven and eight is not an insane. I mean, it's not what you want, but it's not an insane, like, Yeah, I hear people all the time walking around with 10s, elevens, twelves, like, that kind of thing, yeah, not perfect, but also not like you weren't trying, not like you weren't putting effort into it. And then maybe you, I guess that gets coupled with the, you know, the genetic portion of the heart there, there you are. So when they, when she says they're soupy, like, they get replaced. Like, how do they handle? Like, you know, I mean,
Matt Fouse 26:32
she completely needed bypass it. So what isn't working? They took my mammary glands, which is in my chest or not, glands artery, okay, and split that to the two main ones that are, like she said, they're the money makers that keep you ticking. And then they use saphenous veins from my leg and did the other arteries with those, the arteries are supposed to be a lot wider, and they last like a lifetime. But the veins, unfortunately, I think after 10 years, there's like a pretty high risk of needing an intervention, maybe, like a stint or something like that.
Scott Benner 27:18
I was gonna say, meaning another bypass or another, but a stent maybe some way to keep so they expect those to start getting blocked up in about 10 years.
Matt Fouse 27:26
Yeah, and I think what happens is, from my limited knowledge and research, the saphenous veins are not meant for the high pressure of like a heart. I see they're in your legs. They're in your arms. It's this is amazing, like what the human body does. So when they get moved and there's higher pressure of blood that they're used to seeing, they re engineer themselves to like work better. And they thick. They thicken so the walls actually, like, smooth out and thicken, which causes narrowing when that happens, which can reduce blood flow. And, you know, maybe cause issues, occlusions, or just the blood's not going through as fast as it should,
Scott Benner 28:22
eventually get you back to another problem. But that is magical, that they can do that. So basically you're gonna, I mean, you're gonna have a cardiologist forever now, and they'll need to be other interventions in the future at some point. But how do you describe how you feel now versus how you felt before the bypass?
Matt Fouse 28:39
Yeah, that's, that's the crazy thing I do feel like I feel younger and more vibrant. I definitely have more pep in my step. I noticed, like on my my daily hikes or runs, you know, going up a hill, like I just don't feel it anymore at all. I was healthy previous, but I think that was huge in my recovery and everything. But now I'm just like, blasting up hills, and I'm feeling awesome, not crazy. So I'm like, Oh, I guess, I guess maybe I I was feeling it, but I was healthy enough that I just didn't even notice it.
Scott Benner 29:18
When sometimes you get that, like, slow drift away from health. You don't notice the decrease, you know? Yeah, definitely, yeah. You get turned back on like that. Then you're suddenly like, Oh, is that the feeling I was accustomed to? Man, that's and so how long ago was this surgery? And what's the recovery like?
Matt Fouse 29:34
My surgery was May 16. I just fully recovered. They say full recovery is 12 weeks. They cut you open like a clam. They saw through your sternum and like your ribs, spread you, and then they do the surgery, and then they basically weld you back shut. But they put these, like little butterfly screws and clamps around it and then stitch you back up. The, honestly, the worst part was probably, like the, you know, the broken bone part, which wasn't even that bad, because they modern technology, they use nerve blocks in the surgery, which I think wear off when you're recovering, so, like they last basically the full time it takes to heal. When I was 19, I was in a mountain biking accident. I broke my collarbone and shoulder. That was probably 10 times worse of a recovery than my open heart surgery, which is completely crazy
Scott Benner 30:48
to me. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah,
Matt Fouse 30:51
it's just nuts. And now this is me. I know other people probably have it different, but the day after surgery, I was in the hospital, and I was so bored, and they make you get up and walk to prevent blood clots, right? And I was so bored in the hospital, they they kind of give you a test to see that you're okay being on your own to stand up, yeah. And I had passed all of these the day after surgery, I'm doing laps in the hospital with my Apple Watch on. I did 2.6 miles of walking in the hospital because I was so bored. The doctors were like, you definitely win an award out of any patient we've ever had.
Scott Benner 31:40
I want it out, yeah, trying to get going.
Matt Fouse 31:43
Yeah, the recovery was fine, like it was, besides not being able to lift anything or drive,
Scott Benner 31:50
that was the most annoying thing. Were you on pain meds during the recovery?
Matt Fouse 31:53
Stop taking pain meds the second day, so they kind of just give them to you, yeah, like, after surgery, and then the nurse will come in and be like, how's your pain on one to 10? I'm like, honestly, I'm fine. They just stopped them and that, that was it. Anything's besides, like, Tylenol. It was not really happening, man,
Scott Benner 32:17
I I have to tell you how Arden had her her tonsils and her adenoids taken out a few weeks ago, and it's about a pretty painful thing for adults, because apparently the swelling in your throat hits a nerve that radiates like significant ear pain. They prep you for this is very unpleasant, and the recovery between, like days five and nine or even worse than they are, you know, in the first couple days or in the end. And on top of that, you've got like, a sore, you know, a very sore throat. They can't tie off the tonsils and they take them out, so there's just this, like, scabbing that happens the back of your throat. The whole thing is kind of horrifying. But they gave her a Percocet right thing. It was Percocet with acetaminophen, I if I'm not mistaken, and she had to use it, like, Arden. Arden's pretty tough. Like, I think when she started, she thought, like, oh, I won't need this, like, this. But pretty quickly she was like, okay, she took it the way she was supposed to. So she ran out of it, because they only give you, like, a week's worth in the first go. And so like, a day or two before it's gonna run out, we called them and said, Listen, you know, this has been pretty painful, and she's gonna need more Percocet. And you'd think that there'd be, I don't know, with all the talk in the world about, like, you know, there's painkillers are everywhere, and it's ruining America, and blah, blah, blah, like, you know, a 21 year old calls up and says, Hey, I need more Percocet. You'd think you'd need to talk to the doctor. No, the lady that answers the phone, and five minutes later, you've got a text from Walgreens. Hey, we're refilling your prescription. I'm like, but they do just hand that out. Like, yeah, you know what I mean? Like, it's interesting. You know, I was surprised that there weren't, but Matt, you didn't need it after having your chest cracked open because you're saying there was a nerve block that was working,
Speaker 1 34:00
yeah, so
Matt Fouse 34:02
the surgeon told me she put a, I don't know where or how this works, but she said, Oh, we used a nerve block so your pain should be less. And honestly, it was, you know, broken bones hurt. I did not feel that bad. It was kind of nuts.
Scott Benner 34:21
Oh, you got a good doctor. Then say her name. Please help people out.
Matt Fouse 34:25
Dr Harrison was her name. She is absolutely amazing. Like, in my like, doctor's visits and follow ups and stuff, anytime that a doctor or like, somebody at like, the cardiac rehab place would hear that she was a woman surgeon. They were like, kind of shocked, really. And I was like, Oh, this must be, yeah. I'm like, this must be pretty rare. So we googled it. And I guess in the United States, there are about 4000 cardiac thoracic. Surgeons. And now these surgeons are like, top of the top of the top of surgeons like to be cardiac, thoracic. There's so many things you have to be good at. There are, out of those 4000 the internet said there was less than 100 of them in the United States are women like, Oh, my goodness. I can see, I can see why people are like, what? But yeah, she she was amazing. When she came in to do the consult, when I had my catheterization, she like, very excitedly, oh, this is my favorite surgery to do. And I was like, Well, I'm glad I can help you, you know,
Scott Benner 35:43
yeah, so Matt, I have to tell you, you've said a couple things that I've looked up while you were talking so about the nerve block. So there are different kinds of nerve blocks they could use during this surgery, that some of them can last between 1872 hours, some up to five days, if the catheter stays in longer. It's pretty awesome. And I did look up the thing just now about the surgeon. And no kidding, yeah, study analyzing the Medicare provider utilization and payment database identified 2435 practicing cardiac surgeons in the US. By 2019 of these, 122 were female, representing 5% of the total in 20. Yeah, it's crazy. In 2013, of the 2076 only 3% were female. So there is an increase happening, but very slowly. I wonder what it is about that specialty that doesn't lend itself to women going after
Matt Fouse 36:36
it. Yeah, I don't know. One of my really good friends, his father was a cardiac thoracic surgeon, and he was telling me, like stories that his dad told him about going to, like school and his learning and stuff,
Speaker 1 36:52
the stuff they have to do, like they basically have to be able to thread
Matt Fouse 36:58
like multiple knots in like seconds with their eyes closed, like with tweezers and things, which is, I'm like, Oh my gosh, like,
Scott Benner 37:06
I dropped the tweezers. They'd be like, god damn it.
Matt Fouse 37:07
And I noticed, like a lot of the follow ups, Dr Harrison always would have young female, like high school girls or college girls following her, because, you know, they were interested in possibly being a surgeon. I was like, oh, you know, like, that's awesome. She would always ask, Oh, this is my daughter's friend who was thinking about maybe becoming a surgeon. She's in high school. Would you mind? And I'm like, No, have at it.
Speaker 1 37:35
Like, yeah, teach the young, yeah.
Matt Fouse 37:37
What's your scar? Like? The scar healed over. Very nice. It's a little reddish, and it's a line that goes a little bit below my nipples, up to maybe like couple inches above, like my pecs, so maybe like five, six inches. And then I had a scar on the leg where they took the vein, which is completely healed over. You can't even hardly see anything.
Speaker 1 38:09
And then my left
Matt Fouse 38:12
chest is healed over. That's where they took the mammary. But, yeah, the recovery was it was the best possible situation. My follow ups have been all good, and I just hope for the best to come. You know, you never know you could be one day away from kicking that bucket.
Scott Benner 38:30
Matt, this doesn't, does this change your overall life expectancy at all?
Matt Fouse 38:33
The surgeon said no, because I said that. I said, Well, you know, I'm a realist, and I googled the average life expectancy after open heart surgery, and I think Google says 18 years. So to me, that puts me at 58 which is pretty young to die.
Scott Benner 38:57
59 was that, when you did the Googling, did you Google that you hadn't had a heart attack, but you had the quadruple
Matt Fouse 39:04
I did not, but I asked this to my surgeon, and she said, Yes, but those stats are they're taken from a group where the average age is at minimum 20 years higher than you. So I think the the average open heart surgery patient is probably mid 60s,
Scott Benner 39:27
in their 60s already. Yeah, yes. There's no way for them to really track, yep.
Matt Fouse 39:31
If you look at that, it's like, well, yeah, that makes sense. That puts them near 80 when they die. Or, you know, seven, late 70s. Sure, you know, I got, I got a lot going against me. I got a diabetes since I was a young child, and a history. But now I will be seeing a cardiologist at minimum once a year. They will be running all the tests that they do. I'm now. On, oh my goodness, I have a pill box now because I'm on so much medication. I'm on statins, anti clotting drug I'm on, oh gosh, I can't even remember all the things I'm on.
Scott Benner 40:14
But what do they got you on warfarin or something like that for blood thinners?
Matt Fouse 40:19
I'm on aspirin, just aspirin, just like baby aspirin, yeah. But the other stuff, I think, is to prevent clotting. And then I was on a beta blocker, which makes your heart pump lower. I think the main objective of that is to give your heart rest for recovery, like after the surgery, okay, and I was on that and I would just feel so painfully sluggish, like my life was in slow motion, like I was wearing cement shoes, and my reaction time just felt like way off on the beta blocker, Which makes sense, because it, yeah, it slows it slows everything. It slows your heart rate. But yeah, I was feeling awful on that, and I noticed that during, like, my exercise, I just felt horrible because my heart wanted to do what it's supposed to do, and wanted to be that, you know, 160 versus 105, so my cardiologist took me off of that, and I feel so much better after being off of the beta blockers, good, but I will probably be on statin for the rest of my life. You know, the internet says, seemed like pretty much any person who's had type one for more than, like, 20 years, I think they just put them on it now, kind of prevent what happened to me.
Speaker 2 41:50
Yeah, yeah, geez, but this is the
Matt Fouse 41:52
first time I've been on one since the surgery.
Scott Benner 41:56
Talk a little bit about how it impacts the rest of things that can mean you're married, right? And you've got young kids, and, you know, what's the kind of psychological side of all this?
Matt Fouse 42:06
That was a wild ride. So at first, everything's just a shock. My wife and I, like, I it didn't even hit us, like, even after the surgery, it's like, Wait, what just happens? Yeah, quick. I remember the morning of the surgery. I think my skirt surgery was scheduled at like eight, but they had you report at like 6am to, like, prep you right? I remember going in and hugging both of my kids because I'm like, I might not see them again. The surgery has a
Scott Benner 42:41
sorry, no, no, take your time. Matt, seriously,
Matt Fouse 42:45
it's got, it's got, like, a one to 3% survive. The rate of death is like one to 3% which is pretty high. I mean, it's not high, but it's like, well,
Scott Benner 42:57
you know when it's high, it's when it's you, this could happen. Yeah, yeah, when, when did you have in the surgery? That seems like a pretty big number. Yeah.
Matt Fouse 43:03
And I'm like, so if you line 100 people up, which is not many people, three of them might die during this surgery. Yeah, that's a lot more than, like, you look at the statistics for, like, dying in a car wreck.
Scott Benner 43:15
Well, also you, you're sitting there at that point too, thinking like, this is, you know, happened to other people in my family. I have had type one diabetes for 40 years. Like, maybe I'm skewing a little closer to those three people than I am to the 97 Yeah, exactly.
Matt Fouse 43:29
You know, I was previously healthy, but it's like, well, I got the diabetes and my stuff so clogged. You know, anything could happen. I could throw a clot to my brain, whatever. It could all go downhill
Scott Benner 43:42
quick. Yeah, surgery is not simple, and being even just being put under, you know, is dangerous. So, I mean, I can tell. I mean, I can, I completely understand going to your kids and being like, hey, you know, you know, I was trying to bum me out, Matt, but they're so young. 10 years from now, if you pass away in that surgery, they're not even going to half remember you. You know what I mean, like, that's the thing you got to, like, stand in real time. Yeah, yeah, think about that,
Matt Fouse 44:04
yep, yeah, exactly, yeah. But that, that was that morning, and I was like, Man, this is really hitting me now,
Scott Benner 44:12
yeah, which one of these scum bags is gonna hit on my wife? You know what I mean? Like, you know of your butt, Yep, yeah, of your buddies. You're like, which one of these guys I know is, like, gonna wait like, a year and a half and then, like, you know, like, hey, you need help with something you like, dirt bags.
Matt Fouse 44:26
Yeah, exactly. But my wife was amazing through all of it. My mom came down, watched the kids while my wife stay with me every single day in the hospital. For, you know, the amount of time that she could during visiting hours, I got out, and then my wife, just like, she had her like, Okay, I was strong for the kids. And then she just like, she had, like, a week of like, holy, you know, yeah, she was just emotional. Crying because it like you have a release. Eventually you're like, everything just kind of, lets go, right? I remember I was really emotional in the hospital, and I was like, I just think about, like, our kids, like, what am I putting them through right now? And she's like, well, the ones for she's such a dangling she's not going to remember any of this, like you're right?
Scott Benner 45:24
And then I have a 10 year, 10 year old too, right? And then go ahead, I'm sorry,
Matt Fouse 45:28
yeah, I have a 10 year old. I think she's still young enough. She didn't really grasp the seriousness of the situation at the time the day my surgery was scheduled. I work for a professional baseball team, the Washington Nationals, and I'm their barista. So we get, like, free tickets anytime we want to the games the nationals were playing the Orioles, which is big because it's like two local teams. They were coming up to Camden Yards. We had the VIP tickets like that. You get to go on the field, because I work for them, and we're going to get to meet all the players. I was like, I had to come home from the catholicization and be like, I'm sorry, honey, but we can't go to the game. And she immediately was like, oh. And I was like, because I'm going to be on an operating table getting split open like a clam while they reroute my arteries. I think all she thinks about is like, of course, she loves me, but she's still 10, and she's like, Oh man, she completely understood it. Though we were not going to that game that night after the surgery.
Scott Benner 46:40
Listen The saddest thing you said so far is that you work for the nationals, who have been really terrible this year, and that must be sad.
Matt Fouse 46:47
Oh, bless them. Yeah, they're all great guys, and they're doing the best they can.
Speaker 1 46:55
Yeah, it's a little
Scott Benner 46:56
bit rough. Matt, what do you do for the team? I'm their barista. So like you wrote, do you wrote? I do, yeah, yeah. That's so cool. Tell me about it. Tell me, please, yep.
Matt Fouse 47:09
Only just work for the nationals. Like they're I work for the nationals, but any game that they have that's early, usually, like the one or three o'clock games that they like to be caffeinated, because, let me tell you, baseball players, they get paid a lot, sure, but I see what they go through because I'm friends with a bunch of them. They if they have a one o'clock game, they usually start reporting at 7am for these games, and they're studying the next teams, whatever they study, I guess they're like, pitches, their percentages, stuff like that. Yeah, they do stretches, they do practices, they do all this stuff. But yeah, so I caffeinate them. I also have people that work for me. So a lot of times the visiting teams were in the, like, Major League Baseball vendor network. So if they're traveling through Camden Yards or Nationals Park, they can choose to hire my company to bring an espresso bar and caffeinate them. So a lot of times I'll have one of my baristas doing the visiting locker. And like last was it two weeks ago. We did the Milwaukee Brewers at the same time that I did the Nationals. So I'm just basically making coffee for baseball players. Is what my job is.
Scott Benner 48:32
That's a pretty cool down, down to a team. That's a pretty cool job. Listen, my kid never played professional baseball, but I can just tell you that prepping for a college game is a day long experience. It's, it's a lot more work. They don't just wander out there and like, you know, stretch your shoulders twice and get going. It's a lot, you know, really. And you can see these guys now are all taking much different care of their bodies than they had in the past. You know, they're eating differently, cooking differently. That all takes time too. So, yeah, but listen, and the Nationals, oh my goodness, yeah, yeah. By the way, you're better than the Braves this year. That was surprising, I imagine,
Matt Fouse 49:10
Yep, yeah. That is crazy. That is just crazy to me, how
Scott Benner 49:14
that happens. It really is. Well, listen, I love baseball. It's so cool that you get to are you even there for the games, or are you just there earlier in the day? How does that work with your time there?
Matt Fouse 49:24
Usually I'm just there earlier. I can go to pretty much any game I want to. I just gotta tell the manager that deals with that. Hey, can you put me on the list? And he'll put me on the so every major league Park has a friends and family section that they will not sell public tickets to, okay? And that section is for friends and family or, like anybody that's on the list, all he's got to do is put me on the list, and then I can go sit. It's it's usually always like behind home plate, up and over to the first base side. You. But the thing is, it's like, well, I got there early. I was working all day, and now I have to wait two hours and then sit through a long baseball game. So usually I don't if they're anywhere I want to see them. I can also go to the games. So like, if they're in Camden Yards, we go and I can bring family, friends, whatever, pretty good perks of the job. I guess that
Scott Benner 50:28
sounds like a great job to me. Actually, that's awesome. I would like you to teach me how to make coffee so I can show up and do that be seriously great. And were you able to let me definitely fun. Yeah. I'm gonna finish up with you by asking this, like, how long were you out of work, and how quickly were you able to get back? And do you notice any deficits at this point? After the procedure,
Matt Fouse 50:46
I could not lift anything over I think it was eight pounds for the first six weeks. And then after six weeks, I had a follow up, and I think at that point your bone is healed enough that you're kind of good to go. You just kind of have to be careful. So when I went to the appointment with the surgeon, she was like, yeah, just listen to your body like you don't really have any lifting restrictions anymore, but if something feels like you shouldn't do it. Listen to your body. Well, I took that as okay, this week, I'm going to run 26 miles, and I'm going to split four cords of firewood. Yeah, and that was the worst decision I could have made, because I think that set me back weeks in my, like, overall recovery, because last, like I said, last week was on my official, like, 12 weeks. But I think I definitely was set back because of that. I just felt like garbage for like, two to three weeks after that, and I was like, it's so funny. My wife is not a naggy wife whatsoever. You know, she's not the like, you shouldn't have done that. I said to her, I'm like, Why didn't you say anything to me? And she's like, I was watching you split firewood from the kitchen window. And I said to myself, he should not be doing that probably. And I'm like, Why didn't you say anything?
Speaker 1 52:25
I was like, it's your fault. You weren't nagging enough.
Matt Fouse 52:29
My gosh, that was pretty much, you know, I think it's 12 weeks. Everything is technically like your bone is fused together.
Scott Benner 52:39
You should have, you should have followed the instructions. Matt, yeah, okay, try listening next time. I know, yes, that's crazy. Well, listen, I am. I'm very happy that you're okay. I That burping saved your life. I think, I hope everybody picks a time in their life where they say to a cardiologist, can we just get a look in there? I know. I think about it all the time. I genuinely would like to do that. And it does feel weird to go to somebody and say, Look, I'm not having any problems, but I am older, and I'd like you to look. I think even I've got to get over that. I'd like a little, you know, a little look around. I don't know what they do, Echo, look around, some sort of an imaging. I want to know if there's anything in there brewing. No pun intended. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matt Fouse 53:20
I think it is so important, like, if you are type one diabetic and you've had it for a good amount of time, even if you don't have symptoms, you can start. You go to your doctor, you say, I have no symptoms. I want to do a cardiac CAT scan. Insurance might not pay for it. You pay out of pocket. It's not that expensive. Like, even out of pocket, it takes a minute and a half to fling you through this thing that will show if you have a problem, like that will show calcification, and that could save your life. Like, I think it's worth diving into. Worst case, you blew however much the it cost for it, but it's worth doing that versus being that story of like, guy died wrestling with his kids playing on the floor. You know? Yeah, that's what I'm hoping you know, just this story can get across to people, like, dive into it and like, take a look, look at have a look.
Scott Benner 54:26
I share periodically. But my buddy Mike, who was diagnosed when we were, you know, 18 ish, like, at the end of high school, and never really, kind of came along with modern methods to take care of himself, till it was a lot later in his life, and he ended up on dialysis, and then one day, like he just, it is exactly the way you described. He was sitting and talking to his wife. They were talking about dinner. He stood up to make dinner, and stood up and fell right over again. And that was just sort of it. Yeah, I sometimes think that, you know, the rescue squad did him a disservice by by saving him in that moment. And then he, you know, laid in a bed for a few. Days before his heart gave out the rest of the way, because there was nothing they could do for him, because the damage to his heart was significant from his his lifetime of, you know, higher blood sugars, and that pretty much is the beginning the end of it all. On top of that, kidney dialysis is is hard on your heart, too. So he had a he had that double whammy going for him. Yeah, yeah, yep. I want to make your point through his point, which, if he was here, he would tell you that the day before this happened to him, he did not think he was about to have a heart attack. Like, that's not what. He did not see that coming. So I think that really should be the takeaway, honestly,
Matt Fouse 55:35
yep, yep. You might not see it coming, but it might be coming. So do what you can, go
Scott Benner 55:41
look for it. Nothing wrong with peeking around the corner to see what's coming and maybe get ahead of it a little bit. You know? Yeah, definitely not at all. I appreciate you sharing this story, and I wish you nothing but success. I know there are going to be a few people that are going to laugh because you had a plant based diet and then had heart issues, but I don't think that's got one thing to do with the other.
Matt Fouse 55:58
Yeah, and the marathon runner a day, I know.
Scott Benner 56:02
Listen, it's like, I ran a lot, and I never ate meat, and then, by the way, I had to have a quadruple bypass. Like, yeah, yeah. Not funny, but, you know, there's going to be some irony in there, yeah, that people don't, maybe don't jive with, but nevertheless, I'm gonna have to say goodbye because I'm out of time. But thank you very, very much again for sharing this with me. Thank you, Scott, that's a pleasure. Hold on one second. Okay, yep.
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