So they tell me that I've had a heart attack.

[dreamshark]

But not recently. Sometime between 3 months and 8 years ago. And I am wracking my memory and my health notes to find even the slightest suggestion when such a thing could have happened. Sure, I know that the definition of "silent heart attack" is that you don't realize it's happening. But if there is heart damage, how could you not notice a sudden decline in heart function immediately afterwards? I have been complaining off and on for the past few years that I get more and more out of shape each winter and have a harder time each year getting back to what I consider my base level of fitness, but I am after all getting older each year. And since I had to give up skating in 2012, I do slack off in physical activity during the winter, so it's hardly surprising that every spring my cardio fitness is down. There was never an unexplained drop.

All I know is that whatever "inferior anterior" damage they are seeing was not there in the stress echocardiogram I had in January 2008. And from the looks of things, the damage "wasn't recent" (which the doctor defined as "in the last 3 months.")

Well, in the end it doesn't matter much. Whatever happened was minor and shows no indication of being about to happen again. All my coronary arteries are clear and happy, except that one of the little roads leading off the end of the right coronary artery stops in an abrupt dead end down near the bottom of the heart. The damaged area is too small to stent, and isn't really leading to anything anyway, so it's there to stay. Presumably, that's why November's echocardiogram showed slightly degraded function in the heart muscle down in that very area.

And most likely none of this is even related to the problem I came in with - the irregular heartbeat. I've had that for at least 15 years, which is why I had the stress-echo back in 2008. At the time the arrhythmia wasn't enough to worry about, and the alleged silent heart attack hadn't even happened yet. Now the arrhythmia is worse, but we're still investigating whether it's worth doing anything about. Investigation still ongoing. I'm still perturbed, but much less so now that I know I'm not about about to be whisked away for a heart bypass. 

Comments

[mle292.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that you don't need anything as drastic as surgery. I hope everything turns out okay and you get some answers soon.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Well, not THAT surgery, anyway. There are still other possibilities relating to arrhythmia...

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear the news is mostly good (arteries clear, etc.) Mike has problems with an irregular heartbeat too sometimes, which he thinks might be triggered by certain foods, but it's not at all clear. Hope they can figure something out for you.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

How disconcerting to have had a heart attack and missed it! I'm glad it was apparently minor enough that you could miss it.