22nd March 2006
I avoided telling anyone about this befor but here goes.
I'm 55 now, but I was 44 when I started having what I knew were heart attacks, even though they went undiagnosed for years. I remember every heart attack I’ve had, except one. That was the one I had during my last stress test two years ago one day after a Catherization, (The Cardiac NP told me about that one).
Since 1995, I’ve probably had half dozen stress tests, maybe more, and all of them said my heart was just fine. The trips to the ER the Docs always said all their tests were normal. I remember once about five years ago, after my PC Doc said there was nothing wrong with my heart, he also said, “You really needed to get on with your life.” (You bet - I never went to him again).
It was four years ago when I went to a Neurologist; who sent me to a Electrophysiologist; who after giving me a Pacemaker, sent me to a Cardiologist; who while doing a Cath said, ‘All the arteries had some degree of blockage but there wasn’t any particular artery that looked that bad’; then befor the Cath was over a Cardiac Surgeon walk in and looked at the images and said that the wide spread blockages looked suspicious. The Surgeon explained what he suspected was going on with my heart and asked if I would undergo exploratory heart surgery. He new I had Marfan and if he did the surgery he said he could check out the slightly enlarged aorta that was diagnosed several years befor (but was not bad). I was in such bad shape, I said yes. That was three years ago.
After I was alert the Surgeon told us that I was a mess inside. He said that there was so much disease around my heart that it took him too long cutting it away to get everything done and only had time to do five bypasses.
It showed that I had had several heart attacks, Chronic Dresslers Syndrome, and the blockages were all around my heart and were caused by the disease on the outside of the heart pressing on the arteries. He did what he could.
Bottom line is__ My diseases never showed up on any stress test.
But the good news is, I never have to take another one because of the heart attack I had while I was having the last Stress Test.
Latest news: Yesterday after four days of angina the Doc said they would schedule my fourth Cath next week and for me to double my Atenolol to 200mg to go along with my Plendil, Flecainide, Plavix, and Nitro patches. I still hurt bad.
enie
I'm 55 now, but I was 44 when I started having what I knew were heart attacks, even though they went undiagnosed for years. I remember every heart attack I’ve had, except one. That was the one I had during my last stress test two years ago one day after a Catherization, (The Cardiac NP told me about that one).
Since 1995, I’ve probably had half dozen stress tests, maybe more, and all of them said my heart was just fine. The trips to the ER the Docs always said all their tests were normal. I remember once about five years ago, after my PC Doc said there was nothing wrong with my heart, he also said, “You really needed to get on with your life.” (You bet - I never went to him again).
It was four years ago when I went to a Neurologist; who sent me to a Electrophysiologist; who after giving me a Pacemaker, sent me to a Cardiologist; who while doing a Cath said, ‘All the arteries had some degree of blockage but there wasn’t any particular artery that looked that bad’; then befor the Cath was over a Cardiac Surgeon walk in and looked at the images and said that the wide spread blockages looked suspicious. The Surgeon explained what he suspected was going on with my heart and asked if I would undergo exploratory heart surgery. He new I had Marfan and if he did the surgery he said he could check out the slightly enlarged aorta that was diagnosed several years befor (but was not bad). I was in such bad shape, I said yes. That was three years ago.
After I was alert the Surgeon told us that I was a mess inside. He said that there was so much disease around my heart that it took him too long cutting it away to get everything done and only had time to do five bypasses.
It showed that I had had several heart attacks, Chronic Dresslers Syndrome, and the blockages were all around my heart and were caused by the disease on the outside of the heart pressing on the arteries. He did what he could.
Bottom line is__ My diseases never showed up on any stress test.
But the good news is, I never have to take another one because of the heart attack I had while I was having the last Stress Test.
Latest news: Yesterday after four days of angina the Doc said they would schedule my fourth Cath next week and for me to double my Atenolol to 200mg to go along with my Plendil, Flecainide, Plavix, and Nitro patches. I still hurt bad.
enie