Newbie ...

[SomersetJo]

Hi, I've just joined this group. I was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2010 and had a bone marrow transplant in 2011. Unfortunately that didn't work properly so I went onto a new drug to control it. This drug was really good at controlling the rare mutation I have, but came with a lot of cardio-vascular risks. I had to come off the drug last year due to the severity of the side effects. I've now been left and recently diagnosed with - renal artery stenosis, PAD/popliteal disease, angina and coronary heart disease. I had an angiogram 2 weeks ago which then meant an urgent angioplasty - one branch of something was totally occluded , other bits were mildly affected and then the circumflex system had severe disease (70% and 90% affected) so 2 stents were inserted. I have got my assessment for cardio rehab next week. It's all been a bit of a shock really to realise how serious it all is. Any insights and shared experiences greatly appreciated.

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Hello and welcome to the forum! You have been in the wars haven't you. You have my sympathy. I was diagnosed with PAD in 2010 and angina in 2017. As my cardiologist said it was a double whammy - an appalling family history of CVD and over 50 years of Type I diabetes. Four arteries were over 70% blocked with the LAD being the worse at 85%. I was deemed unstentable and had a quadruple last year. Although cardio rehab was beneficial I did have a few issues with it (mainly a one size fits all approach and broken equipment). Sadly the availability and quality seems very much a post code lottery. All the best going forward and feel free to PM if you wish!

[SomersetJo in reply to MichaelJH]

Thank you Michael, it sounds like you have had a tough time too. I'd got quite used to managing the leukaemia and the various aspects of it, but this has all really shaken me. Even though various medical bods were saying last year about my high risks, I was minimising it all and explained away the breathlessness because of being anaemic or the cold weather! When they did the angiogram and were discussing it in theatre and saying they couldn't leave it, it all got a lot more real and scary. Thank you very much for your message