What a ride

[MrBoring]

Hello all,

I've been browsing this forum recently and there's so much warmth and advice given that I'd like to share my story and hopefully receive some reassurance/advice in return.

I'm a 44 year-old man who's a single father to a beautiful 14 year-old daughter. The last few years have not been kind to me, beginning with the onset of depression due to lockdown and the ending of a long-term relationship, as well as losing family members due to COVID.

Through all of this I was eating relatively well and have been training 3-4 times per week for the last few years. However, I was a heavy smoker.

To my surprise, I recently had to have a stent fitted. At the end of April, I was on my way to the office when I felt a twinge in my chest and became sweaty and nauseous.

On taking myself to hospital and having the subsequent CT scan, I was told that I did not have a HA BUT my left artery was clogged (70% according to the CT angiogram, but was later found out to be 50%).

It's been 12 days since the stent and I've had constant panic attacks and don't really know how to process all of this. Yes, I am fortunate that they caught it in time and I didn't have a HA. But my life has been turned upside down (it seems).

I want to go back to living a normal life, nay, I want to LIVE and not merely survive. But that seems like a long way off, given that I can't walk for 10 minutes without becoming breathless (from a man who used to do brutal hour-long HIIT sessions only a few weeks ago). Suffice to say that I've quit the fags.

I hope I am not overdramatising, as I know that others on here have had it much worse, but the panic attacks and lack of relative mobility are affecting my motivation to work and my overall mental outlook.