It's been a month since I had chestpain, great woodcutting day today.

[Gamedic]

One month ago today I was sitting at the dining table at a friends house when I started having very bad indigestion. I thought it would go away and didn't think much of it. I went home and to bed. When I woke the next morning the pain that I thought was indigestion had went away and was replaced with a sharp pain in the back of my left shoulder. I didn't think much of that either, I just thought it was muscle soreness. The day after that the pain had moved back to my chest, so I deciced to put myself on the cardiac monitor at work. I was surprised and a little bit scared when I saw an unusual cardiac rhythem. My coworkers wasted not one second with my treatment and I spent the next 2 days in the hospital. I was back at work in a week, but have not felt good since. I have slowly started doing more each day. I am suffering from shortness of breath and irregular heartbeats most every day, but seem to be getting better with every day. Today I felt great so I went out and cut little oak tree. It was about 12 inches through at the stump. The tree was about 30 foot from the road that I was parked at. I cut the tree into 4-12 foot logs and threw them over my shoulder and carried them out. I them cut them up into firewood. I felt like I did when I was 25 years and would have cut another tree but it got dark on me. After a month of pain and shortness of breath and worry about what my future might hold it sure felt good to be back in the woods.

 

[mizzou]

Sounds like your recovering, good for you.

 

[Mac88]

Take care of that ticker. It's the only one you got.

 

[stihly dan]

Thats not normal after Christmas? I thought we all got that After days of extended family and in laws.

 

[zogger]

Thats good you are getting better and are able to do some work again.

What exactly can they do for you in the hospital? Were you just monitored?

 

[bootboy]

Did they diagnose you? I'm just curious because I work in a cath lab. Hearts are my specialty

 

[flashhole]

I can relate to the nagging pain that never goes away. Been married to her for 35 years.

 

[stihl023/5]

I can relate to the nagging pain that never goes away. Been married to her for 35 years.

I can relate to that.

 

[bootboy]

That reminds me... the other day, prior to a procedure, I asked a patient if he had any health problems, he replied "well, I'm married". Haha!

 

[Gamedic]

Did they diagnose you? I'm just curious because I work in a cath lab. Hearts are my specialty

I have a left bundle branch block. I think the shortness of breath is caused by my left ventricle beating out of rhythem. The cardiologist doesn't believe me when I tell him I'm short of breath. My 02 saturation is not low, but I still have that feeling of working harder to breath. I am having numerous big pvc's too, not those little pvc's from to much caffeine but real hard ones that will wake you up.

 

[flashhole]

At least you're on the recovery path. What else can you do besides try and live a normal life?

 

[bootboy]

I have a left bundle branch block. I think the shortness of breath is caused by my left ventricle beating out of rhythem. The cardiologist doesn't believe me when I tell him I'm short of breath. My 02 saturation is not low, but I still have that feeling of working harder to breath. I am having numerous big pvc's too, not those little pvc's from to much caffeine but real hard ones that will wake you up.

Have you had a pulmonary study? A left bundle branch block is simply a conduction delay of about 40 milliseconds between the right and left ventricles, although it can be an early sign of congestive heart failure. PVC's are usually inconsequential unless they begin to constitute more than about 20% of your rhythm. Any risk factors for any type of lung disease in the family? Smoker? asthma? diabetes? sleep apnea? Just short of breath upon exertion or also at rest? A pulmonary study could reveal much more about pressures in different major vessels and diffusion and so on, possibly revealing something like pulmonary hypertension as the source of your trouble. With the pain you described earlier it sounds like your doctor needs to rule out a past event like a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs) as you may be at risk for future episodes. If the SOB (shortness of breath) continues even after you've been on a cardiac exercise regimen, inquire to your doc about further lung testing. What kind of bloodwork did they do? Your clotting factors and platelettes may be suspect.

I wish you the best, don't let your doc brush you off. Take care.