Ray Romano 'Got Kinda Lucky' Finding Finding Deadly Heart Condition

At the last hour, when 90% of actor Ray Romano's heart was blocked, he became aware of the life-altering condition forcing him to undergo surgery.

Romano shocked Marc Maron on Monday's episode of the "WTF with Marc Maron" podcast when he revealed that his heart was so blocked he was essentially a walking time bomb. 90% of the Toy Story actor's heart was stopped.

Romano isn't dwelling on what could have been, though, "I got kinda lucky that we found it before having a [widow-maker] heart attack." Romano admits that the disease comes as no surprise to him.

He has battled high cholesterol for 20 years but would always refuse the medication his doctor insisted her needed to help manage the health condition. "Every time, I said, 'Let me do it myself.' And I would go home, eat right — not vegan, but a little healthier — and get it down a couple of ticks," he recalls.

But it was never enough for the actor to maintain it.

The Everybody Love Raymond actor felt on top of the world when he mastered his cholesterol,, leading to a false sense of entitlement over his health. "I'd go home and think I was hot s–t. I'd get it down already, and I'd start cheating, and that was the cycle," he said.

His doctor said that his high cholesterol wasn't necessarily putting him "in danger" but that he should be monitoring, and then boom! Surgery is needed. Today, Romano is following orders.

"Now, I'm on the meds," he admits to Maron, who casually cheers his buddy for taking the step. Believe it or not, agreeing to go on medication should be a choice taken seriously. He admits that if he "could go back 20 years," he would have just started the meds.

Nowadays, for Romano, "It's hard for me to sustain that diet stuff," so it's meds for the win!

The comedian admits that as soon as he has one thing under control, another thing pops up without fail. "I'm on the meds, and it's got [my cholesterol] all down now, so I figure I can enjoy and eat some food now. My sugar level's up now," he says through laughter. "I'm on the pre-diabetic side."

Earlier this month, before revealing the surgery, Romano went into more detail about the day he realized that something was off within his body. While directing his upcoming film Somewhere In Queens, he had to cancel a few appointments.

"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,'" he revealed to Entertainment Tonight. "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."

Thankfully, Romano is getting past this difficult period in his life and back to what he loves; acting and directing.