“Everybody Loves Raymond” star Ray Romano said he got “kinda lucky” that doctors discovered he had 90% blockage in his heart before he suffered a stroke or heart attack.
During his appearance on Monday on the “WTF With Marc Maron” podcast, the 65-year-old actor talked about the challenges of physically getting older and revealed he’s recently had a health scare over an almost completely blocked artery in his heart.
“I know in my head I don’t feel that old,” Romano told the host. “In my body, I’m getting a couple of notices that I am that old.”
“I had high cholesterol 20 years ago, and my guy always told me, ‘Why don’t we start going on the statins?'” he added. “And every time, I said, ‘Let me do it myself.’ But then I’d go home, and I would eat right. Not vegan, but a little healthier, and get it down a couple ticks.”
Ray Romano Reveals He Underwent Heart Procedure After 90% of His Artery Was Blocked https://t.co/T9Ihfn5hKn
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The comedian said even though he would try, eventually he would end up going back to his bad habits so he had to end up on statins, medication that is given for lowering cholesterol and reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes, Yahoo.com noted.
“But then I’d go home and think I was hot s***, I got it down already, and I’d start cheating, and cheating, and that was the cycle,” Romano said.
“I just had to have a stent put in,” he added. “I had 90% blockage [in the main artery]. I got kinda lucky that we found it. So, of course, then I’m on the meds, and my cholesterol dropped right away. If I could go back 20 years ago, I would’ve went on the meds, ya know?”
Earlier this month, Romano told Entertainment Tonight that he recently went to see a cardiologist after having chest pains while directing his film, “Somewhere in Queens.”
“I called my agent at one in the morning because I couldn’t sleep, I go, ‘I can’t do it, can’t do this,'” the actor said. “Because — I’m not joking — I had to go to my cardiologist in New York and get on the treadmill and do a stress test because I was getting chest pains.”