The visit to the Cardiologist was a stunner. There was no more pretending that this was all just a mistake. He was treating me as if I was ill with a life threatening disease. He reviewed the original EKG, checked me over and prescribed a cardio-stress test for later in the week.
If you are reading this you probably know the routine. Chest shaved again by a cheerful technician and the monitoring electrodes attached so that the efficiency of my heart’s workings could be observed while I walked on a gradually steeper treadmill. I lasted about two and a half minutes before the same searing pain of the night on the hill gripped my chest.
As soon as he saw the results of the cardiac stress test my Cardiologist knew I had some blockages in the arteries feeding blood to my heart. The next step was a diagnostic test called a Heart Catheterization to see where the blockages where and how seriously they were effecting the blood flow to the heart. That was also booked incredibly quickly.
If you get fast service in a restaurant, you feel pretty good. If you get fast service in a Cardiology clinic, you start to feel a bit nervous. I was getting incredibly fast, attentive care.
Next stop the Heart Catheterization.
Showing posts with label pain in arm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pain in arm. Show all posts
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
The very beginning - October
I was walking up a long steep hill to where I had parked my car. I was leaving the arena where our local QMJHL hockey team was playing and feeling a little unwell.
About five minutes from the rink I got a stunning pain in my chest. My stomach roiled into nausea and my jaw and teeth started to ache. I lurched to a stop and slowly the horrible spell passed.
Shaken, I started off again and bang. Within about ten steps it came back. I could see my car and felt everything would be all right if I could just make it to there. It was a hellish twenty minutes before I finally sat behind the wheel feeling the misery subside and absolutely shaken by the experience. Is this what a heart attack is?
It sounds ridiculous to say now but as the pain subsided I convinced myself that I was suffering from acid reflux or ulcers, anything rather than a heart problem.
By the time I had driven home I was convinced that the whole episode, while unpleasant, was not really very serious. It nagged at me though and I made an appointment to see my family doctor the next day, to see if she could fix my stomach.
About five minutes from the rink I got a stunning pain in my chest. My stomach roiled into nausea and my jaw and teeth started to ache. I lurched to a stop and slowly the horrible spell passed.
Shaken, I started off again and bang. Within about ten steps it came back. I could see my car and felt everything would be all right if I could just make it to there. It was a hellish twenty minutes before I finally sat behind the wheel feeling the misery subside and absolutely shaken by the experience. Is this what a heart attack is?
It sounds ridiculous to say now but as the pain subsided I convinced myself that I was suffering from acid reflux or ulcers, anything rather than a heart problem.
By the time I had driven home I was convinced that the whole episode, while unpleasant, was not really very serious. It nagged at me though and I made an appointment to see my family doctor the next day, to see if she could fix my stomach.
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