Ely Buendia: Too much work and stress did it

At this moment, (the) doctor is threading a thin catheter up through (the patient’s) femoral artery from an incision in (the) groin, on into the aorta, and from there into one of the arteries encircling (the patient’s) heart. At the tip of the catheter is a small balloon. The doctor gently navigates the tip to a spot where plaque has narrowed the artery’s channel by 90 percent. With a quick, practiced movement he inflates the balloon to push back the artery wall, deflates the balloon, then inserts an expandable stent – it looks like a tiny tube of chicken wire – that will keep the passage open. As (the patient) watches on the monitor, the crimp in the artery disappears, and a wide laminar flow gushes through the vessel, like a river in flood.

That, more or less, was the emergency procedure done to two major arteries and a minor one in the heart of Ely Buendia at the Philippine Heart Center where he was moved from the Asian Hospital where he was rushed after he suffered a heart attack during a concert in Laguna over the weekend.

That description of an angioplasty procedure was excerpted from a cover story entitled Mending Broken Hearts in the Feb. 2007 issue of the National Geographic magazine which is very timely in view of what happened to Ely (only 36, lead vocalist of Pupil, his own group).

The procedure is over. It has lasted only half an hour. In all likelihood, (the patient) will be able to go home the next day. So will a few thousand other patients in the United States undergoing such routine angioplasty – more than a million a year. Pipe fixed, patient cured, right?

Wrong.

Because of the treatment, (the patient’s) quality of life will likely improve. (The patient) will breathe easier and maybe live longer. But (the patient) is hardly cured. The coronary artherosclerosis – a hardening and narrowing of the arteries that supply the heart with oxygen-rich blood – still leaves (the patient) vulnerable to future blockages and coronary heart disease.

Last night, Ely was scheduled to be transferred from the ICU to a private room. His blood pressure has stabilized. He should be home in three days but has to recuperate for about a month before he can be on the road again.

"He’s clean," said Diane Ventura, Ely’s wife (and not just his girlfriend as a movie scribe described her) who rushed Ely to the Asian Hospital that fateful night. "His doctor, Dr. Wilfred Dee, said that Ely’s heart is almost perfect."

Diane recalled that Ely was already "in pain" but went ahead with the one-hour-and-a-half concert. "The show must go on, you know," said Diane with whom Ely has a seven-year-old son, Eon. "He thought that it was simple heartburn, something which Ely had been experiencing. He’s acidic. But the pain became so unbearable that he could hardly stand. After the concert, he just collapsed in the car, unable to drive. So I took the wheel and drove to Asian Hospital."

A capillary-carcinoma survivor (free from cancer cells these past two years), Diane knew that the symptoms signaled something very serious. "It was Ely’s first heart attack and it could have cost him his life," she added. "One of his major arteries was 100 percent clogged and the other, 95 percent."

Contrary to insinuations, what did Ely in was not drugs ("Although he did try once, when he was in high school," said Diane, "just like most of today’s teenagers"); neither was it smoking

("He stopped more than 10 years ago") nor drinking ("He drinks moderately but only on certain occasions").

"It was unfair for them to be making such insinuations," complained Diane.

What caused it was, to put it bluntly, too much work and stress, an unhealthy diet, and lack of sleep and exercise. Ely should have had regular medical check-up but he did not.

"Because of mostly out-of-town gigs," said Diane, "Ely would come home oftentimes at 5 a.m. He’d wake up at 8 a.m. to take our son to school. He’d get only three to four hours of sleep. Despite his work load, Ely is a hands-on father. He’s an ideal family man."

The doctor said that Ely was "genetically predisposed" to heart attacks (a few family members and relatives also suffer from the same ailment).

His diet consisted mostly of meat ("He’s a meat eater and he loved the fatty part"), hardly including vegetables and/or fruits. He didn’t drink enough water (at least eight glasses per day, doctors advise). And he very seldom exercised. "He was all work," according to Diane. "No, he wasn’t taking any medication. He takes multi-vitamins (Centrum) but not all the time."

While recuperating at home, Ely will continue writing songs for a new album Pupil is preparing. Maybe he’ll write a song based on his near-fatal experience, entitled – why not? – Puso Ko?

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