Psience Quest Interview No. 4: Rudolf Smit and Titus Rivas

I recently got another phone call from Rudolf, telling me that he stays at the rehabilitation center Het Zonnehuis now. He's slowly improving, step by step, with exercises to recover his walking skills etc. 

He can read messages, but for some technical reason he can't respond to anything yet. They're working on that.

He send all of us his warmest regards.

I hope that he recovers as smoothly as his condition allows.

 The latest news about Rudolf is that his condition continues to improve. Last weekend he was allowed to go home to see how well he would do. As far as I know, they told him yesterday whether he could leave the rehabilitation center altogether. 

For the near future, Rudolf will still get help from a nurse and he'll have to continue his rehabilitation program. 

But all things considered, this is really good news.

To all who have responded to Titus Rivas' mails information about my heart attack of a few months ago.

15 September 2018

Dear all,

Thank you so much for all the nice well wishes regarding my heart attack which had taken place on 26th July 2018.

Believe you me, that was a terrible event. It was there completely out of the blue. One should know that I have no history of illnesses whatsoever. Always healthy, always energetic, always enjoying life to the full.

But then... I was watching TV just before 8 PM and all of sudden it jumped upon me. Terrible pain behind my breastbone, I began sweating profusely, my arms began tingling, my eyesight began fading, and then I knew what was happening. I called out to my wife Miny, who however, did not respond immediately. After my second call she came and got the fright of her life. She immediately called the ambulance service. Within about 20 minutes I was in hospital...

It appeared to be a massive haert attack. If we had not responded immediately as we had done, I would not have been in the land of the living any longer....

A week later I was operated upon and received four bypasses.

Now I am in the process of recovery, which appears to go well. Yet, it is continuous fatique that still overwhelms me. Even writing this mail requires energy which I hardly have.

Anyway, I am on the road to full recovery ... never mind that this may take half a year or so.
I feel immensely grateful that I have been given a new lease on life, and I intend to use that given time to the benefit of NDE'rs and NDE-research.

Warmest regards to all,
Rudolf Smit aka Smithy.

Rudolf H. Smit
rudolf.h.smit@hccnet.nl

To all who have responded to Titus Rivas' mails information about my heart attack of a few months ago.

15 September 2018

Dear all,

Thank you so much for all the nice well wishes regarding my heart attack which had taken place on 26th July 2018.

Believe you me, that was a terrible event. It was there completely out of the blue. One should know that I have no history of illnesses whatsoever. Always healthy, always energetic, always enjoying life to the full.

But then... I was watching TV just before 8 PM and all of sudden it jumped upon me. Terrible pain behind my breastbone, I began sweating profusely, my arms began tingling, my eyesight began fading, and then I knew what was happening. I called out to my wife Miny, who however, did not respond immediately. After my second call she came and got the fright of her life. She immediately called the ambulance service. Within about 20 minutes I was in hospital...

It appeared to be a massive haert attack. If we had not responded immediately as we had done, I would not have been in the land of the living any longer....

A week later I was operated upon and received four bypasses.

Now I am in the process of recovery, which appears to go well. Yet, it is continuous fatique that still overwhelms me. Even writing this mail requires energy which I hardly have.

Anyway, I am on the road to full recovery ... never mind that this may take half a year or so.
I feel immensely grateful that I have been given a new lease on life, and I intend to use that given time to the benefit of NDE'rs and NDE-research.

Warmest regards to all,
Rudolf Smit aka Smithy.

Rudolf H. Smit
rudolf.h.smit@hccnet.nl

Dear, dear Rudolf, I'm so happy you are back with us; just thought about you this morning, wondering how you are doing. Thank you for the great news, please recover fully as soon as possible!!

Hallo Enrique and to everybody else on this forum,

Past Friday it was one year ago that I was hit by that massive heart attack. Massive indeed: I was truly on the edge. As one cardiologist asurred me: "It was a true miracle that you made it, thanks to the impressive qualities of the team at your hospital."

On the third of August last year I had an open-heart operation and received four bypasses.
Recently I got hold of my hospital files and yes, it dawned upon me more than ever that my survival was a miracle.

But I must tell you that my recovery was, after a relatively good beginning, a painful process. It turned out that such was mainly due to the side effects of some medicine. Truly, I lived like a zomby at times. Had difficulty walking (had to use a walking stick), felt depressed, could hardly do anything useful. Concentration was failing: when I tried to read a book or a paper, I had to start all over again, because after a paragraph or two I had forgotten what was at the beginning...

However, now I can tell you that I feel reborn! I am not swallowing those medicines that made a zomby of me. I am almost the same again as I was before my heart attack! Depression is gone, I can walk normally again, i.e. with the same brisk pace as ever, can read with concentration again, and so on!

Yet, I have to be careful. My heart has been damaged so much, that I have to watch out. No wonder when one realizes that my bloodpressure is on average 95 over 65... In case I had not had that attack it would have been 140 over 85... quite a difference! And given the current condition of my heart there won't be any true improvement...

Never mind! I feel good and of course will closely monitor my behavior, so as to make sure that I won't have another attack another time... well, at least that is what we are hoping for.

Okay, that was it for now!

I hope to come back with new contributions on this Forum.

Regards to all

Rudolf Smit aka Smithy

Hallo Enrique and to everybody else on this forum,

Past Friday it was one year ago that I was hit by that massive heart attack. Massive indeed: I was truly on the edge. As one cardiologist asurred me: "It was a true miracle that you made it, thanks to the impressive qualities of the team at your hospital."

On the third of August last year I had an open-heart operation and received four bypasses.
Recently I got hold of my hospital files and yes, it dawned upon me more than ever that my survival was a miracle.

But I must tell you that my recovery was, after a relatively good beginning, a painful process. It turned out that such was mainly due to the side effects of some medicine. Truly, I lived like a zomby at times. Had difficulty walking (had to use a walking stick), felt depressed, could hardly do anything useful. Concentration was failing: when I tried to read a book or a paper, I had to start all over again, because after a paragraph or two I had forgotten what was at the beginning...

However, now I can tell you that I feel reborn! I am not swallowing those medicines that made a zomby of me. I am almost the same again as I was before my heart attack! Depression is gone, I can walk normally again, i.e. with the same brisk pace as ever, can read with concentration again, and so on!

Yet, I have to be careful. My heart has been damaged so much, that I have to watch out. No wonder when one realizes that my bloodpressure is on average 95 over 65... In case I had not had that attack it would have been 140 over 85... quite a difference! And given the current condition of my heart there won't be any true improvement...

Never mind! I feel good and of course will closely monitor my behavior, so as to make sure that I won't have another attack another time... well, at least that is what we are hoping for.

Okay, that was it for now!

I hope to come back with new contributions on this Forum.

Regards to all

Rudolf Smit aka Smithy

Dear, dear Rudolf, THANK GOD for the great news!!! I've been thinking about you very often, particularly these days, strangely enough. Many a time I had a temptation to write to Titus, asking about you, then I would hold back, not wanting to bother him. Be careful about those anti-depressants, they really kill your brain. I was prescribed antidepressants a few times, but I would never take them. My friend, who runs a big cancer treatment facility told me that she prefers to prescribe to her patients a food supplement called 5-HTP, given that it doesn't have any secondary effects, unlike antidepressants. I decided to try it, and it as amazing. Took my depression right out, with no ups and downs, no secondary effects, no numbness, etc. Nothing at all. Apparently, it stimulates serotonin producing areas of the brain. I swear by it now. 
In any case, you dear, dear man, please, take good care of yourself, you are loved by many people on this forum and beyond!! We miss your great posts!!!
Un abrazo desde Madrid!!

Terrific news ! Great to hear.

Glad to hear you're better.

What drugs were they, may we ask? Just so we know to avoid them in future.