This has been an interesting journey, so far. It started around Memorial Day weekend, I was experiencing some sharp pain in my left elbow. It would at times radiate down to my wrist and/or up to my shoulder. I lived with it for over two weeks trying ibuprofen to keep it in check. It was affecting my sleep, keeping me awake at night. After a couple weeks of no discernible improvement, I finally gave in and went to the doctor. Urgent care, on a weekend.
The doctor diagnosed me as having tennis elbow. I was not expecting this, but it made sense. It felt muscular, not heart related. Got some advice to take lots of Alieve and use occasional cold compresses. I also got a rest pad for my elbow at work. Over time my tennis elbow improved, and is very manageable now.
Anyway, while there, juuust to be safe, the doctor wanted to do an EKG. We get the EKG done, and he has it read by an on-call cardiologist downtown. The results come back normal, except a small abnormality that he has concerns with. They think that maybe I had had a heart attack previously and never knew it. The set-up an appointment with a cardiologist for a better exam the about five weeks later.
I get to the cardiologist appointment and he essentially says the other cardiologist didn’t know what he was talking about. I had definitely not had a heart attack previously. Everything was fine. However, juuuust to be safe, we’re going to do a treadmill stress test… a nuclear stress test. So we set it up for the net week.
This nuclear stress test is a two-day stress test. The first day is a resting stress test. They take my vital signs. They inject me with the nuclear stuff. I go eat a light meal… I ask what the meal is for and they say it’s to ‘push’ the nuclear stuff through to the heart and kidneys, or something like that… then I go in and get pictures taken of my heart from a very expensive looking piece of equipment. Then I go home. No caffeine for 24 hrs, btw, for the next test.
The next day I get more vital signs. I get hooked up to ten electrode things, and they put me on a treadmill. It starts somewhat fast, I thought, and increases speed and incline as I go along. Once I get to a certain point they inject more nuclear stuff and keep increasing the speed and incline. No meal necessary this time, as the higher heart rate pushes the nuclear stuff through just fine. This did not go well. I am very out-of-shape. Once finished I did calm down fairly quickly. Then for more photos of my heart, for comparison.
The next day I get a phone call from the nurse. They did not like the photos. There was a dark area near the bottom of my heart. I am told I need to go in for an angioplasty, and maybe get a stent, or two. It’s scheduled for later that week. At this point, Missy is worried. I’m, somehow, unconcerned.
To be continued.