My Sister is a medical pro. I am just worried and motivated. She asked me for help and her question follows:
I'm a medical professional but I've no idea what's going on with my own Dad!
I found out he scheduled an echo cardiogram and stress test.
They said it was to rule out heart problems but I think it's stress related. He can't walk to the car without chest tightness. Today a friend and I hounded them for details. Here they are:
No family history of heart disease.
Clean living, no smoking, great diet, not obese.
He was swimming daily during the summer and hiked a few months ago in northern Italy with no problem what so ever.
At New Years he wanted to start training for a 10K - TRAINING FOR A 10K - not a couch potato. He couldn't exercise without feeling chest constriction. He thought he was really out of shape but it didn't get better with more exercise it just got worse.
He made an appointment to see his doc - two weeks.
Make an appt. to see a cardiologist - two weeks.
Make and appt. for an Echo - two weeks.
Made an appt. for a stress test - three weeks.
See a trend? His symptoms are much worse - he has a problem every day over the past month.
He can't open the gate and return to his car without being wiped out with a tight chest. He can't
push the wheel barrow outside to get wood. He WAKES UP with the chest tightness. He and Mom are pretty scared at this point and frustrated with no plan as of yet.
I would feel better just knowing what is going on - that is why I'm passing this on.
Here, in a nut shell, are the possible outcomes from my perspective:
1) Circulation problem in getting blood to the heart: either a heart catheterization with stent placement or open heart surgery (worse case scenario). If it was this they would have sent him to the hospital from the stress test so the fact that he's home is good (that or the technician is a dweeb).
2) Viral infection affected his heart muscle. This happened to Charles' mom - rare. Again, fit person no history or negative life style issues. She is on meds and got a pace maker. This is an outside chance as it is rare but since it happened to Dee it comes up in our list of possibilities.
3) Electrical problem. There are a 100 possible electrical issues with 100 different treatments each ranging from one med to many meds to no meds and a pacemaker of which there are at least 20 options. The good thing is any problem is treatable or at least optimized with no surgery or just a pacemaker (no biggie).
SOMETHING will be discovered and SOMETHING will be done. You all know as much as we do now. If there is something I didn't see or know about let me know. If you have questions feel free to ask and I'll try to clear up what I can.
I will be hounding them again tomorrow as they ask their main doctor for the test results. I will keep you posted as I get info. I hate being in the dark about this kind of thing! If any of you have medical Q's I might not know the answers but I will know how to get them and will help any way I can.
Thank you in advance. I think that this is a problem best resolved by tapping in to our collective experience. I love my Dad. I need your help.
- Chris
This is an edit of a very personal e-mail.
I edited it to cut out the fluff and personal bits. My sister is an anesthesiologist but as her younger brother I can't just sit by without doing my best to help. I'm hoping to get some other perspectives here.
I'm a medical professional but I've no idea what's going on with my own Dad!
I found out he scheduled an echo cardiogram and stress test.
They said it was to rule out heart problems but I think it's stress related. He can't walk to the car without chest tightness. Today a friend and I hounded them for details. Here they are:
No family history of heart disease.
Clean living, no smoking, great diet, not obese.
He was swimming daily during the summer and hiked a few months ago in northern Italy with no problem what so ever.
At New Years he wanted to start training for a 10K - TRAINING FOR A 10K - not a couch potato. He couldn't exercise without feeling chest constriction. He thought he was really out of shape but it didn't get better with more exercise it just got worse.
He made an appointment to see his doc - two weeks.
Make an appt. to see a cardiologist - two weeks.
Make and appt. for an Echo - two weeks.
Made an appt. for a stress test - three weeks.
See a trend? His symptoms are much worse - he has a problem every day over the past month.
He can't open the gate and return to his car without being wiped out with a tight chest. He can't
push the wheel barrow outside to get wood. He WAKES UP with the chest tightness. He and Mom are pretty scared at this point and frustrated with no plan as of yet.
I would feel better just knowing what is going on - that is why I'm passing this on.
Here, in a nut shell, are the possible outcomes from my perspective:
1) Circulation problem in getting blood to the heart: either a heart catheterization with stent placement or open heart surgery (worse case scenario). If it was this they would have sent him to the hospital from the stress test so the fact that he's home is good (that or the technician is a dweeb).
2) Viral infection affected his heart muscle. This happened to Charles' mom - rare. Again, fit person no history or negative life style issues. She is on meds and got a pace maker. This is an outside chance as it is rare but since it happened to Dee it comes up in our list of possibilities.
3) Electrical problem. There are a 100 possible electrical issues with 100 different treatments each ranging from one med to many meds to no meds and a pacemaker of which there are at least 20 options. The good thing is any problem is treatable or at least optimized with no surgery or just a pacemaker (no biggie).
SOMETHING will be discovered and SOMETHING will be done. You all know as much as we do now. If there is something I didn't see or know about let me know. If you have questions feel free to ask and I'll try to clear up what I can.
I will be hounding them again tomorrow as they ask their main doctor for the test results. I will keep you posted as I get info. I hate being in the dark about this kind of thing! If any of you have medical Q's I might not know the answers but I will know how to get them and will help any way I can.
Thank you in advance. I think that this is a problem best resolved by tapping in to our collective experience. I love my Dad. I need your help.
- Chris
This is an edit of a very personal e-mail.
I edited it to cut out the fluff and personal bits. My sister is an anesthesiologist but as her younger brother I can't just sit by without doing my best to help. I'm hoping to get some other perspectives here.