My Heart

I had a little chest pain a little over two weeks ago and took a nitroglycerine tablet. Pain stopped almost immediately. However, I had a 6 months check-up with my cardiologist the next day and when I told him about my chest pain everything started happening. Two weeks ago today I had a Doppler ultrasound and then the next day I had a stress test. Ultrasound was great but they saw some blood flow problems with two of my by-passes. Had a heart cath yesterday and with a little balloon work everything opened up great. I was home by midafternoon and I am feeling great today. I am a blessed man,

Frank 

Glad to hear everything is alright. Everyone needs to pay attention to what their body is telling them and not ignore the warning signs. I gotta say I'm blessed also, though I don't deserve it.

Congratulations, Absolutely pay attention, I had a little chest pain in 1996, turned out to ba an Aortic aneurysm, they fixed it and installed a mechanical aortic valve. Had I ignored it I wouldn't have made 50, no going on 71.

Awesome to hear that Frank! Amazing what can be done if caught early enough.

Kev

Great news. Important thing I learned from my father years ago is that we need to pay
attention to our health and stop thinking we are invincible. Advice I give to every young
man I have had the chance to influence.

Wow, you really are fortunate to have caught that.  I'm thinking you were very lucky your appointment was the next day.  Would you have called if didn't already have that appointment?

I am old enough to remember when for many your first heart attack... Was your last heart attack.

Today I know many how have gone into the hospital in full arrest and are still walking around today, in fact I have a sort of joke about one of 'em.

I walked in with Congestive heart failure. 20% function, walked out with 49% (50 and up is considered normal)

Best advice is do not inore your doctor. Keep a good relationship including regular visits.

Glad to hear you did that.

John From Detroit said:

I am old enough to remember when for many your first heart attack... Was your last heart attack.

Today I know many how have gone into the hospital in full arrest and are still walking around today, in fact I have a sort of joke about one of 'em.

I walked in with Congestive heart failure. 20% function, walked out with 49% (50 and up is considered normal)

Best advice is do not inore your doctor. Keep a good relationship including regular visits.

Glad to hear you did that.

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John, me thinks you don't know the difference between a heart attack (commonly an arterial blockage causing a blood circulation problem), cardiac arrest (simply put... an electrical problem), and congestive heart failure (the weakening of the heart muscle leading to an inability to clear the lungs and limbs of excess fluids.  Symptoms too numerous to list here).

My limited experience with heart disease consists of the following;
Constant AFIB
Stage one congestive heart failure.
A Pacemaker
Two quadruple bypass operations (1992 and a re-do in year 2000)
Two heart attacks (resulting in the two listed operations)
Three additional heart attacks (discovered by ECG/EKG and Echo-cardiogram) that I was unaware of.
Three cardiac arrests (two planned, during the bypass operations, and one unplanned a few seconds after the second operation).

Just as an aside, my heart was intentionally stopped for one hour during the first operation and five hours during the second.  I was hooked to an external blood circulation system during those times, of course.

I'm told that it was the unscheduled cardiac arrest that caused the most panic driven activity, since I was about half way between the OR and the ICU at the time.  I'm glad I was also out cold at the time.

That had to be so scary!  Glad you are okay.  I had a friend to die this week with a heart attack.  He was 40 years old.  Very overweight.  We only have one heart!  Need to take good care of it.  I am glad you foynd your problem in time.

Good news Frank, make sure you get your recovery program in place and follow it!

Actually I* do know the difference... I'm trained in CPR with or without AED,  I also had electrical issues which were the lesser of my two heart problems (Atrial Flutter,  Like A-Fib but not as bad).  I forgot to mention that.

When the heart stops, no matter the reason.. Seconds count,, you only have about 4-5 minutes (240-300) seconds to live. if help is not present and eithe CPR started or .. Some other procedure.. You won't be waking back up.

A friend of mine and I were having a discussion.. We were talking about a hospital.. I said I thought it was rather good .  As it happens I know two people who went in dead (no heartbeat) and walked out alive (Well rolled out, you know hospital rules)

HE said "I don't know, they just got sued for operating on the wrong patient"

HE.. was one of the two people mentioned above,  HE actually walked in, but arrested AT THE ER RECPTION DESK.

I also know the symptoms of heart attack.. Had 'em described to me twice in fact (By the person having the attack).. one was a 9-1-1 caller.. He was trying to get to a hospital but did not knwo if he would make it (he did, and in that area the odds of recovery if you make it to hospital in time are between 95 and 97% depending on the hospital)  I talked him into a parking spot and ambulance ride.. Said "Good by" to the medic after they arrived.

The other was my Roommate when I was in with CHF...  He too survived.

Here's an interesting app that one may want to pursue:

http://www.pulsepoint.org/

It doesn't work everywhere, just where the local 911 center has installed it.

;D Frank, wow a great call, caught it and have it corrected!

 

I had a little chest pain a little over two weeks ago
______________________________________________
This is a key statement that people often don't understand.  Cardiac problems are not always first seen as a major chest pain.  These often feel like indigestion even when you may be on the edge of a coronary.  I was also fortunate to find mine before it was a big issue.  So glad you figured yours out in time.

No pain, but the Sat before Easter a lot of dizziness. I made it through the Easter service and took a long nap. My BP was fantastic, so the nurse in Abq Wasn't concerned. JIC, I sent in a report from my BVP that had been lowered 1 month before to 130 pulse per min Thur aftn. Friday AM, Dr Inbar called and said. "You have to get to a major hosp ASAP, either here in Abq or Phoenix. You need this drug started immediately: AMIODARONE. Here is my private cell phone # and I will have it on me in 2 hrs. have the Dr call me if it isn't here." We were in Abq at UNMH in 3 hrs/ cut our time by 20 min.

I never had any pain but my report showed 167 incidents of fast pulse in the 130 range with the new 130 setting. Wow, 4 days later I was discharged with that powerful drug and ventricular tachycardia on my list of new tings to live with.

Four weeks later, good news! Friday afternoon, 4 weeks after walking into the UNM ER, I was joyfully surprised when Dr. Inbar finished looking at my pacemaker statistics, four weeks exactly after my fist dosage of amiodarone, turned to me and said, "Your next blood test will be in 3 months and then every 3 thereafter, your next appointment with me will be 12 months from now."

I have a new start . . . again. Oh, they did have to use the Entresto I brought with me (I had a hunch and brought all meds and supplements!) as it's so new their Pharmacy didn't have any. I Started it last Sept and was their 1st CHF patient to use it. I also and discovered that in Dec my EF improved from 24% in 2013 to 34%, that in 3 years.
 

Bob Maxwell said:

Four weeks later, good news! Friday afternoon, 4 weeks after walking into the UNM ER, I was joyfully surprised when Dr. Inbar finished looking at my pacemaker statistics, four weeks exactly after my fist dosage of amiodarone, turned to me and said, "Your next blood test will be in 3 months and then every 3 thereafter, your next appointment with me will be 12 months from now."
 

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Bob

It's good to see that you are getting good medical coverage. Some words of caution.  In 2003 we were getting ready to leave for the Forum Moab rally and then travel the rest of the summer. Recovering from the flu, I went to my primary doctor a couple of days before for a final checkup. He discovered that I was in AFIB and sent me immediately to the ER. Among other things I was put on Warfarin and Amiodorone. The first couple of months were very difficult because of the interaction between the two (extreme drowsiness and fatigue). It was a balancing act with the dosages and I needed my INR blood tested every week or two. After a while, they got everything working together right and I had about 8-10 years of no issues, just periodic blood tests.

Eventually, the Amiodorone took it's toll, it can have a major impact on the thyroid. I was taken off of Amiodorone but it took a while for my thyroid to get back to normal. The Amiodorone did a great job but it is known for it's effect on the thyroid. Keep an eye on it.

Thanks, Bernie, will do!