Lewis Grizzard wrote a hilarious book “They Tore Out My Heart and Stomped That Sucker Flat.” The title referred to his problems with heart disease and Lewis’s affairs of the heart. My caption has no double meaning. It is straightforward literally.

It started simply enough. Honestly I felt like a healthy spring colt free in a beautiful pasture except I needed an allopurinol refill to forestall gout. I depend upon a daily allopurinol tablet to counter the return of the painful condition.

We called the drugstore for a refill. They indicated I would have to contact my doctor for a new prescription. The doctor’s office said I had not visited since 2007 and they would not write a new prescription unless I appeared for a consultation.

Gout is a lifetime condition and I have yet to hear of anyone who became an allopurinol addict but that is another story.

I consulted my doctor to get the allopurinol prescription and in the process he used his stethoscope. While listening to the left side of my neck he remarked, “You’ve got a bruit.”

Having no idea what a “bruit” is I thought perhaps it might be a beauty spot or some other intriguing condition on my neck. It turns out a “bruit” has no connection with beauty and it might come from the root word brute since a “bruit” has the potential to be brutal.

The PDR Medical Dictionary defines the term as “a harsh or musical intermittent auscultatory sound, especially an abnormal one. A carotid bruit is a systolic murmur heard in the neck but not at the aortic area.”

A carotid ultrasound identified a 60 to 80 per cent blockage in my left carotid artery. The diagnosis was accompanied by a recommendation that I see a vascular surgeon immediately.

My good friend, Dr. Bill Pannell, the eminent general surgeon, was exceptionally generous in advising how to proceed. Bill recommended Dr. Maurice Solis who he described as an outstanding vascular surgeon conservative in regard to treatment.

Three visits to Dr. Solis produced a diagnosis, a decision, and an incision in that order.

Dr. Solis identified a 70 to 80 per cent blockage of the left carotid on May 11. He told me it was not an emergency but the current blockage increased my chances of a stroke by about 12 per cent during the next five years.

He explained the basic procedure for the carotid endartectomy (CEA) which is the most frequently performed operation for such a condition. My chief concern became: Is the ordeal of an operation worth a 12 per cent increase in my chances of not getting a stroke? June 8th was the date to give Dr. Solis my decision.

As a youngster I, like my fellow male classmates, got into fights from time to time. They consisted of wrestling contests which didn’t last long and usually didn’t involve significant blows being struck.

Boys often carried small pocketknives that in no way resembled switch blades made famous in the movies. On occasion during the course of a playground scuffle a boy would take out his pocketknife and threaten to cut his opponent.

I can’t actually remember anyone ever being cut but I always harbored a pervasive fear of being cut by a knife in anger or otherwise. I preferred cowboy movies to pirate movies because the cowboys didn’t seem to stick knives in people as often as did pirates.