Not again

I was due to have a meeting with my cardiologist on Tuesday. This seemed superfluous as I was feeling great. I'd just finished my cardio rehab with a flourish - running and pushing it the hardest I'd done until then. Everything was good.

The day beforehand I started getting some chest pain. It didn't worry me unduly as I often get some mild irritation. However, it persisted after I went to bed and started getting worse. The pain became so worrying that I felt I had to call for an ambulance. It was the first time I'd done this since my first chest incident more than a year ago.

An ambulance came and took me to hospital for a check up - ECG, blood tests, chest x-ray. They're very thorough, and also very busy. I was there for nearly 12 hours.

The good news is that they didn't find anything. The worrying thing is that something happened and nobody seems to know what it might be.

One guess is that it could be the stents settling in but that's all it seems to be - a guess. It could possibly just be anxiety as there doesn't seem to be underlying weakness in my heart. The tests were all great.

Today I'm back home and it feels like nothing has happened, like it was a dream. I feel fine.

Hopefully it was just a blip brought on by something - feeling a bit under par, alcohol (not v much your honour but could it be a factor), something I ate or when I ate (I'm clutching here), the ever present anxiety? Who knows?

I had been all set to restart cycling this weekend. Maybe I still will do but there's now a slight hesitation. Should I just push through it? 

One other observation, and this can't be said enough. The care at my hospital was exemplary. Yes, I had to wait a while but they were exceptionally busy - they'd already diverted to another hospital that evening so I was lucky to get in. 

Despite this the people who dealt with me - paramedics, nurses, junior doctors, x-ray staff - were upbeat, patient and professional. I counted about a dozen people who crossed my path and no one dropped the ball. They are under huge pressure but stay on top of their game. 

Could it be better? Of course, but we should never take it for granted how good the service is.

One step forward

I'm nearing the end of my gym rehab period. This week was the fifth of six.

It hasn't been too taxing for me. I have reasonable underlying fitness and am relatively young compared to some in the class.

The sessions focus on cardio exercise - bike, treadmill, cross trainer - with some standing exercises and resistance work with weights and bands.

Perhaps I pushed it a bit harder this week but it left me slightly sore in the chest, which has upped my anxiety again. I feel like I've over exerted something despite not working at anything near what I would once have considered full gas.

The physio is keen for me to exercise outside of the class, as am I, but this has left me concerned about where I am. I mentioned intermittent chest soreness to the cardiac nurse but she seemed unconcerned as I've had three stents and seemed to think this was normal.

I've got a meeting with the cardiologist in a couple of weeks after being referred by my doctor the last time I saw him over this. I had been thinking that I'd be wasting his time but now, hooray, I have a genuine issue.

I'm being facetious, but I do swing from being wildly optimistic about my physical capabilities, to being convinced I can do very little.

The truth, as ever, is probably in the middle somewhere, but I don't know how close I am to finding out where, or what it means for me.