First, I feel great compared to where I was last Tuesday.
I got up last Tuesday and felt a little slow and really got my eyes opened when I walked two houses down to the cluster mail box. By the time I got back to the house, my head was drenched and I was wiping the sweat out of my eyes. More of concern was the fact I was gulping as much air as I could like a recently landed bass. I wrote it off to humidity from the recent rains the Phoenix area had received and the fact that the temperature was still hot. Being Tuesday (bad trash day),I had the same experience with the breathing and the sweating when I rolled the trash bin to the curb.
Since I have AFIB, I checked with a consumer grade cuff and saw my BPM was higher than normal but not sky high, I went to bed that night and didn’t sleep as well as usual. Wednesday, I thought I would confirm the experience by walking around the pool twice....same sweating and gulping for air. I didn’t have any pain, just a slight pressure to the side of my sternum.
At my wife’s urging, I called my Cardiologist’s after hours number and after about 10 minutes he called and said get to the ER. The whole checkin and time to get into an ER room took about 30 minutes. The mention of shortness of breath put me into the Covid testing loop before anyone would see me.
The rest of the day was a series of answering questions, blood draws, pea sample and waiting for a room out of the ER area.
Thursday included x-rays, more blood draws, more answering questions and the beginning of the doctor and doctor associates sticking their heads into the room to ask many of the same questions I had answered previously. I guess each wanted a bite at my insurance plan. I finally made it up to a room and there were EKGs, more questions previously answered, more blood and more waiting. Thursday included my cardiologist’s associate dropping by to tell me my doc wasn’t going to be able to make it to my bedside until today (Monday). The associate said his schedule was full on Friday and Saturday he had hospitalist duty at a nearby hospital. He allowed he might be able to sneak out on Saturday to take care of me.
Friday was boring. I periodically dropped in and out of AFIB and each time the EKG person would drop by. Sleep each night was a constant interruption of blood draws, EKG tests, vitals being taken.
Saturday came and I made it into the angioplasty room. One was stent placed in the left anterior descending coronary artery. Doctor later indicated he guessed a 70-80% blockage.
The last two days have been spent monitoring my condition as I adapt to a new medication replacing the three times a day Flecainide Acetate I have been taking at the direction of my “electrician” cardiologist. Tonight will be the sixth dose I need to take before he considers buying into my release tomorrow. In the meantime, I still been seen by the EKG folks, the blood draw folks and the regular vitals folks. I have been walking the ward floor several times a day between the tests and watching the tube.
I did have another first when the GI doctor, who was brought in due to elevated liver test results, asked for SIXTEEN tubes of blood to be drawn early Sunday morning.
Looks like chicken is going to play a bigger roll in my upcoming diet.
Amazing to me, on July 28-29, I had the four major heart tests (stress, echo, nuclear imaging and CT scan)done in the office of my Cardiologist. When I got my test results the next week, I was told everything looked fine.

Congratulations on your new lease on life.

Wow. Really glad you were able to get the stent and more time here on earth. Congratulations!

You got a Nuclear Scan and Stress Test?

That Cardiologist would be explaining to me WHY he thought you were ok with such a large blockage.

In fact, I'd kick him/her to the curb and get a different Cardiologist.

Best wishes to you.
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I dont know if you already have one but you may need a CPAP

Mine has been a game changer for sleep quality


Glad to hear you're doing better

I have been a cpap user since 2006.

I asked why it wasn’t picked up in the tests and was told....sometimes it doesn’t catch things.
We’re talking three weeks between the test results and last Tuesday.

Glad you made it.

quote:

Originally posted by Hunthelp:
I have been a cpap user since 2006.

I asked why it wasn’t picked up in the tests and was told....sometimes it doesn’t catch things.
We’re talking three weeks between the test results and last Tuesday.

Similar thing happened last year to a coworker of mine, had the heart tests done and showed clear then had a heart attack a couple weeks later.

I am another who recommends you get another cardiologist, blockage in the LAD is something that should have been addressed BEFORE it got to 70%.

Glad you are still kicking!

Even if the doc missed it, the tech should have seen it! Sheeeshh. Glad you made it through all this.

Glad you're okay and that they caught that in time. As others said, they should have seen it earlier. I too would question the doctor about that.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 6guns,

Good for you. And I hope things work out for you.

I had my second heart attack in June. Was sent to a different hospital, one that specializes in cardiovascular, and they determined I had so many blockages, by pass surgery would be dangerous and not possible, so I'm being treated by medications.

I think my previous cardiologist should have caught these blockages earlier ( I've switched doctors since the heart attack) . And the major blockages could have been stented.

I urge any person, around the age of 50 to find a competent cardio doctor , and be checked for any beginning heart conditions as to be treated as early as possible.

Heal well, good thing it was caught.

Age of 50 I suddenly developed chest tightness and pressure with exertion. Cardiologist wanted to do heart cath eval. Insurance co. denied saying I had completed a stress test several months earlier no w/ no problems.

After a couple weeks wrangling (Cardiologist was Baylor cardiology professor recommended by my cathlab nurse wife [ Methodist cardiology])insurance company demanded I see another Cardiologist, who put me on a treadmill. 30 seconds into test they made me get off the treadmill and lie down. A wheelchair was brought and I was quickly wheeled across the Street to St Lukes, Houston. Heart cath followed quickly.

They described their finding as a 95% plus blockage of the LAD. Said I was lucky. Bypass seemed imminent but they were able to drill through it (rotablater) and thread through and inflate a balloon and do an angioplasty.

Immediate relief to exertion stress.

I’m 73 now and exercise regularly and am in pretty fair health.


Listen to body and symptoms. Avoid insurers who would prefer killing you to treating you.

Glad to hear that the outcome was good. In March 2007 I had a strange cold feeling in my upper chest and drove myself to the ER. Blood tests were such that I was admitted and had an angiogram the next morning. Several blockages were found of 90% or more and I went through a quadruple bypass operation the next morning (a Sunday--the surgeon took the first available OR because he thought waiting would be too dangerous). The outcome of the surgery was good--I spent minimum time in the hospital and I've been going ever since. In the following years I developed AFIB and eventually received a pacemaker in 2019.

Modern medicine is amazing!

flashguy

Glad you are still standing or will be soon... I went through the same thing just over two years ago...the only difference and it's what I suggest to anyone going to the ER... CALL 911 and go in an ambulance....

here is the one major difference between your experience and mine... between the time my wife dialed 911 and the doc reported the stint was in and the Artery that had been blocked 100% was now fully open was..... 65 minutes.

Congratulations on getting to the ER soon enough and cheers to a full and speedy recovery.

Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions.
Got home this afternoon.
Lots of meds cancelled and new ones replacing them. I put 19 laps around the ward floor today. I see the plumber next Monday for a follow-up. Tomorrow I need to make follow up appointments with the electrician and PCP.
I’ll try resuming my hour on the indoor recumbent bike after I talk to the plumber.

Glad you're hear to tell this story...