Word of caution Update!

I've been experiencing some chest pain over the last 4 weeks. Went to my doctor and she gave me an EKG and said it looked the same as it did 4 years ago. She was to set up a stress test for me but I never heard anything. So I went back to have blood drawn and asked when is my test scheduled for. The desk girl said we have to get pre-approval first. 10 minutes later she says with you insurance you don't need approval. So, now she says you have to call yourself and get a date. so it won't be for almost another week. In the meantime, I'm telling a friend who's son-in-law is a heart surgeon, and we get him on the phone and he says from what you're telling me, you have a blockage. That was last Friday. Suffer over the weekend with headaches from the meds he ordered and I get to see his partner on Monday. He takes another EKG and tells my wife to get me over to the ER right away. I wasn't having any pain right then so no ambulance needed since the hospital was only 1 mile away. They get me in the ER and all hell breaks loose. Next thing I know I'm on a gurney headed to the OR. Ended up with 4 stents. 3 in one artery that was blocked 100% and one in another blocked 70%.

Moral of the story is don't wait and find a doctor who knows his/her stuff. Needless to say I will be using a new doctor from now on.



P.S. Came home today and all is good



Update A real turn of events. 1 week after the stents were put in, I was still having so discomfort. Went back to the ER and stayed overnight and had a stress test the next day and it showed nothing unusual.. Went home home only to go back on Thursday and they sent to the cath lab again and I had a fifth stent put in. Seems that I needed one more to completely open up the artery. So far I think I'm OK but every little twinge has me wondering.



Richard, glad you're OK too

WOW! Glad you got the care you needed!

Thanks. On top of all that they told me I had a heart attack a month ago. Never knew it.

GLAD your ok Gary !!! Speedy recovery !!



Todd Z

A few years back, the pitcher for my slow pitch softball team made a quick reach to field the ball, and felt a sharp pain on his left side. He thought he had pulled something, which was reasonable given the move he made. He finished the game, but didn't feel just right after that. A day or two later he was delivering a septic tank, and when he tried to back the truck up to put the tank over the hole, he couldn't do it. His body just wouldn't do what his brain was telling it to do. Fortunately his boss was there, immediately recognized the symptoms based on his own experience, and got my friend to the hospital. He had a quadruple bypass and had a stent put in. His arteries were 70-80% blocked, and one was 90% blocked. If his boss hadn't been there, or hadn't been so quick to recognize what was going on, Vince probably wouldn't have made it to the hospital. He was only in his mid to late 40s, and had never had a problem. He did, however, have a strong family history of heart problems. I think his dad died about the age Vince was when this happened, and his siblings had all had stents or bypasses.



My dad was misdiagnosed by his local doctor & when he was worse the next day, my brother and aunt rushed Dad to the University of Ia Hospital an hour away. Drs there said he would have been dead if they would have been 25 minutes later. Turned out he had contracted an extremely rare condition through contact with his newborn lambs. No way his local dr would have ever figured it out.



So, yes! Pay attention to what your body is telling you. Pay attention to those around you. Act quickly, and be persistent!

Gary, good to hear you are doing better now.



My brother-in-law had a similar experience. He and I were mowing my yard with push mowers a few years ago and he didn't feel well afterwards. He went to see his doctor when he got home and they admitted him to his local hospital on the spot. He had triple bypass surgery within a few days. He is doing really well now. He just bought a new Corvette last fall and we are planning our second trip to SEMA since his surgery.

Wow, that sounds like a very close call! Thank you for sharing your experience, and you offered great advice. Happy to hear you are doing much better, and I wish you also a speedy recovery.

Thank you everyone for the well wishes. Yes, it was a close call for me. I lost my brother last Father's day due to heart failure mainly brought on by smoking and other bad habits. I'm going to have to learn how to eat the right things from now on.

Gary, Glad to hear you are OK, and that you were smart enough bring it up to your doctor and persisted in getting another EKG.



About 7 years ago, I had to change doctors and on my first visit, his nurse noticed that I had an irregular heartbeat when she was taking my BP. They ran an EKG and found that I had A-Fib. Doctor put me on a blood thinner and set up an appointment with my Cardiologist who I had not seen in 15 years.



Cardiologist put me on a heart monitor for 48 hours and scheduled me for a stress test and adjusted my BP medications to help control the A-Fib. Stress test was good...no blockages! I was able to detect every abnormal heart beat that the monitor found, except for one at 3:30am while I was sleeping. Doctor readjusted my medicine and got the A-Fib under control.



When I went to my Cardiologist 15 years earlier, he told me to take his "Snake-Oil" treatment that consisted of taking an aspirin, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and Fish Oil, every day. I did that religiously for the 15 years I had not seen him. When I told him, he told me: "If I don't have to see a patient for 15 years, it proves his snake-oil treatment works" :grin:



About a year ago I developed a condition called Atrial Flutter, which is similar to A-Fib, but not nearly as dangerous. My cardiologist sent me to a Cardiac-Arrhythmia specialist (he referred to him as "The Electrician").



The C-A doctor said I could do nothing and continue to take medications and probably be OK, but over time the Atrial Flutter can revert to A-Fib. He said I could have a Cardiac Ablation where they insert a catheter through a vein in your groin and zap the trigger points causing the A-Fib and Atrial Flutter....His success rate was over 90% and less than 1% of all patients have complications such as a heart attack on the table.... So that's what I did.



I had the Cardiac Ablation done May 12th and was released from the hospital the next day. No problems during the procedure. A little tired for a few days and heartburn for about a week that was eased with special medication. The Ablation process irritates the heart and the esophagus causing Heart Burn...very bad heart burn, but the medication relieves about 95% of heart burn. I felt so good the next day after I was released from the hospital, I stopped taking the medicine for the heart burn....big mistake ! When the heart burn kicked back in, I was in agony for about 8 hours until the medicine took effect. So, I took the medicine everyday for the next two weeks !! I learned my lesson..the hard way !



Since then I have had about 6 EKG's and my heart it in perfect beat.



I had a doctor tell me that once you reach the age of 40 your warranty is up..:bwahaha:

That just means that ills that you shrugged off when you were younger often required the attention of a doctor, and that you will have more aches and pains and you don't heal as fast after 40.



...Rich