I’ve just returned home from having some angioplasties and stents
"installed" in the circumflex. I did have single IMA graft in the LAD
in 1982, at 33 years old. I have NO family history, all parents and
their brothers and sisters are still alive or died at ripe old ages.
The cath of the IMA and LAD looked REAL GOOD !!Whew.
Recently I’ve been having these funny pains in the back of my throat.
These pains occurred most intensely and freqently after
eating…generally larger meals effected greater pain. After a
cardiac evaluation, the pain was diagnosed by the GP and cardiologist
as likely being of GI etiology. A cardiolyte scan and stress test
showed nothing extremely abnormal save for a spot on the apical
anterior that did not take up dye at rest or exercise (See..Error in
cardiolyte scans in this newsgroup). An endoscopy was negative.
However, Prevacid seemed to alleviate the problem, and so we all
thought that the problem was GI related (save for the
gastroenterologists). The angiogram showed otherwise. I had some
pretty severe blockages that were resolved as I stated.
So here’s the question. Why did the stress stress test and cardiolyte
scan NOT show these severe abnormalities, and why did I have no pain
during the stress test, but severe pain after eating? The pain in my
throat was not like my previous angina in 1982. That previous angina
was in my chest, neck, jaws, left arm, and left a metallic tatse in my
mouth. During the installation of the stent, the pain was reproduced,
so clearly, these blockages were causing the problem.
One last comment…I was really impressed with the staff and
facilities att he Iowa Heart Center. The cath lab reminded me of the
Enterprise sick bay. Since I’m a research scientist I really got off
on this. The staff let me walk around a bit to took at the equipment
before the procedure. It looked like they had about 5 cath bays there.
The cath, through the femoral, went without much pain, but I suffered
from extreme anxiety. The staff handled my concerns with dispatch and
professionalism. What a trip!
I’ll have more comments on this later.
Jerry Ranch
ranc…@dsmnet.com