A highly recommended heart disease specialist

Question
Hey Doc,

My dad's South Asian (high risk i know), 50 years old, diabetic, and has has heart problems (I'm his 19 year old son). 10 years ago he had a heart attack and from it developed ischemia. He lowered his cholesterol now to about 5 (it was off the charts when he had a heart attack).

Recently, he started to get very short of breath and angina. Now, he had to undergo triple bypass and is on his third day of recovery. When he recovers my dad, along with me, wants himself to get into the best shape of his life because the bypass is not a 'cure' it just prolongs another 'build up' in his arteries.

The problem is I want to know how to make put him at the LOWEST RISK POSSIBLE since he is Genetically prone to heart disease (AGE, RACE, GENDER) and cholesterol which is supposed to account for 80% of his cholesterol. Can this predisposition to heart disease be fought?

QUESTIONS

What does he need to do after his recovery to get into Incredible shape? Push himself doing lots of cardio? Can he bodybuild/weight-train, does that help or hinder? (He is already very active and always working outside, but still has clogged arteries, but he does not extra cardio daily.) Will a big lifestyle change help much? What would this change consist of in detail?

Since eating only accounts for 20% of cholesterol, does he need a durastic diet change avoiding fatty foods? He does take omega 3-6-9 pills.

Also, in his bypass recovery he is in terrible pain and cannot breathe when he lies down. This is partly because his blood pressure won't go over 99/54 at max. Is this normal? What can I/he do to make him feel better?

He is also very concerned about his scar, what are the best things to do to minimze scarring and can it be laser treated later on??

Thanks a lot. Please answer as much as you can. I'm very concerned and when he is ready he plans to become a incredibly fit if it is safe to do so...but we need some direction.

Thanks, Roshan.

Answer
Dear Roshan,

I have no formal right to advise on cases as serious as your Dad's. However, you might want to educate yourself to better talk to the doctors and have a better idea what's going on in such condition. I highly recommend you the site: http://heartdisease.about.com/ written by Richard N. Fogoros, M.D., very experienced professor of medicine and a longtime practitioner. You'll be able to ask him questions at his forum and sign up to his newsletter.

I wish you and your Dad good luck!

Tanya Zilberter

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