All my life I’ve had a healthy heart — as far as I know. I’m active and my heartbeat and blood pressure have always been at the lower level of healthy. Back in January I was told there is something wrong with my heart.
I don’t exercise much, but I walk a lot. Not really to stay healthy, but because I enjoy walking. I don’t equate hiking with exercise. Exercise is painful and time consuming; walking is fun.
As I wrote in this post, I often hike in the San Jacinto Mountains close to our house, because of the easy access. Last summer, when temps at home are in triple digits, I would take the tram up to 8,500 feet and hike. I continued to do so into the fall season, usually hiking a 6 mile loop. Twice a week I would hike to the peak, which is 11 miles roundtrip, with an elevation gain from 8,500 feet to just over 10,800 at the peak.
At the end of 2019 I did a couple strenuous backpacking trips, and simply felt wonderful. In November, my primary physician and Joyce finally talked me into getting a colonoscopy. The only reason I went to the primary physician in the first place, is because I needed hearing aids (or Joyce needed me to wear hearing aids), which required a referral from our doctor to get the hearing aids approved by our insurance company. At the age of 69, having never done a colonoscopy, I was long overdue, and this appointment was just a preventative test. No physical problems noted. It was easier to get a colonoscopy than to continue listening to Joyce and the doctor harassing me. The appointment was set for January of this year.
After the awful evening of drinking the medicine that cleans out the bowels, I arrived at the surgery center for my colonoscopy. I was in a good mood, as the previous evening’s required frequent trips to the toilet had stopped. During the prep, a simple EKG test was done, and the nurse mentioned my heartbeat was extremely irregular. Asking if I had heart problems, chest pains, or felt an irregular beat, I replied, “No,” which was a true statement.
As I went from station to station in preparation, each nurse asked the same question. In the room where the colonoscopy is performed, I was connected to another EKG machine, which is normal because the test requires anesthesia. The doctor was concerned with the EKG results, consulted with another doctor and several nurses, and it was determined it was unsafe to continue. I was told to go see a cardiologist immediately. Well, hells bells, I felt fine.
When I got to the cardiologist, he confirmed there was a problem and scheduled me for further testing, including a stress test on a treadmill the next day. I expected this. At the time, I thought there might be a problem with an artery and suspected I might have to undergo some sort of stent or by-pass surgery, despite the fact I felt good and had no problems with shortness of breath or climbing stairs, etc.
The testing was two-phased. First I was hooked up to a sonogram (also called an ultrasound) machine where the technician did all kinds of stuff while I was at rest. Then I went to the treadmill on the other side of the table I was lying on.
Another technician hooked me up to the treadmill with all kinds of wires connected to my body. I guess each technician has different skills. During all this the cardiologist was in the room watching. The treadmill tech asked if I had any chest pains or tightness of the chest once the wires were hooked up, before I even started on the treadmill. He seemed very concerned about what he was seeing. Oh, well, I figured something was really wrong and I would have a heart attack and die once I started walking.
During a stress test, the speed of the treadmill is slowly increased, as is the angle of the machine. As speed and angle increased, I felt fine. No shortness of breath, no sweating.
Before we started the testing, the treadmill technician and I were discussing cars. He was building an older Mustang, to include some engine performance components. I told him I used to be an auto mechanic and we had a nice conversation. After the test, he explained my heart was like a hot-rod engine with a big camshaft. At idle, my heart lopes like a powerful engine, but under throttle it smooths out with lots of power. Not a reassuring analogy at the time.
Afterwards, the cardiologist spent a lot of time inspecting the sonogram’s recorded history and what was going on at the present (I was still hooked up). He showed me some scar tissue on (or near) a valve, and compared that to the rest of my heart. That valve wasn’t moving like the others. He said I probably had suffered a heart attack sometime in the past. How could that be possible? I probably should have asked more questions to clarify all of this, but to be honest; I was in a state of shock.
The Dr. said I could go ahead and get a colonoscopy done, as it would be much less stressful than what I had just gone through. At the same time, he prescribed a couple heart medications, and scheduled me to do a 24 hour heart monitor test the next week.
The heart monitor test was simple. I went into the office and a bunch of electrodes were connected to my body, and a small portable monitor was connected. It would record my heart for the next 24 hours. A couple days later, I returned the monitor to the office. Another appointment was scheduled for June, to further evaluate all that had been done. I was told that if I did not receive a call back regarding the heart monitor test, not to worry. “No news is good news.”
So I went home and scheduled a colonoscopy for the beginning of April. At the end of March, this appointment was canceled due to the COVID outbreak and rescheduled for the beginning of June, a week before my next appointment with the cardiologist.
With the COVID restrictions and two weeks of 100+ temperatures, I probably haven’t been getting as much walking in as I should. I need to start getting up early in the morning and get back into a walking regimen. Hopefully everything will turn out okay. If I stop posting on this blog in June, then you can probably assume I died. My biggest concern at this time, probably misplaced, is I have to (again) go through drinking the stuff that cleans my bowels before the colonoscopy.