Brian May's Busted Bum Was the Least of His Concerns

If you have no idea why we're talking about Brian May's arse, the musician made headlines earlier this month for tearing his gluteus maximus (every day is a slow news day in lockdown). The issue wasn't his butt at all, as it turns out, and things got worse when May suffered a heart attack.

May shared the story of his health hiccups on Instagram post captioned "Sheer Heart Attack" - a fun little nod to Queen's 1974 album of the same name, as well as his real life heart attack.

"My medical adventures!

"Hmm ... Sheer Heart Attack eh? Well, I think I always worried a little bit about that album title. I wondered if it might upset some people who had actually had heart attacks. I’m actually quite relieved now that I’m in that club - and I don’t find it upsetting at all!"

In the seven and a half minute video, May revealed that the pain in his butt was indeed a ripped butt muscle but said that he continued to feel pain he describes as "agony" afterwards, which isn't normal for busted up butts. After an MRI of his lower back, doctors discovered that he had a compressed sciatic nerve. He was treated accordingly and says that's sorted now, but in the midst of all this, poor old May only went and had a heart attack.

"In the middle of the whole saga of the painful backside, I had a small heart attack. It's not something that did me any harm. It was about 40 minutes of pain in the chest and tightness, and that feeling in the arms, and sweating."

May's doctor drove him to the hospital where he discovered that he had three congested arteries in danger of developing a blockage. Rather than going for a triple bypass, which May says he was under "pressure" to do from a number of people around him, he opted to have three stents put in, which is much less invasive. A stent is a tiny tube inserted into a blocked artery to keep it open, which comes with its own risks, as any medical procedure does. May said the procedure would've been a "doddle" had it not been for the pain in his leg. He seems fine now, but advises anyone in their 60s and above to go for an angiogram to catch things like this before they happen. [BBC News]