The really bad deal about this, Jay, is I talked to his brother today. He'd cut back on his smoking, drinking and had dropped weight. They did three stints the first time he went in, and committed to change.
Problem was his body didn't like his meds! They had him on Previcide, I believe, for a blood thinner. He went down at work yesterday am, they got him in right away, opened him up and did three more stints and thought he was under control for the time being. They had planned going back in when he'd stabilized. But the meds would have none of it! Instead of thinning his blood, the Prevacide was coagulating it causing clots. They couldn't get his blood to thin out fast enough. He was a walking time bomb. Either an aneurysm or a heart attack, much like the way my best friend went, he was a dead man, just didn't know it.
Sorry, I'm becoming more of a cynic all the time, stories like this, and my own ordeals, really make me wonder if the Dr's really have a clue what they are doing!