7 month cardiologist review done

Well I had my 7 month face to face chat with the cardiologist yesterday.

I had tonnes of questions which I did email to him a month before the meeting.

1)My Question- At the point of the angiogram what condition were all the other important heart vessels in? They didn't require stents. Was that because they were in great condition or because they were under the minimum requirement for any procedure and should I be concerned and should I go for private consultation to keep and eye on this?

Cardiologist answer - All the other arteries were actually in great condition. Even the LAD was good ,apart from a single build up in one spot which caused your heart attack. You don't need to go private and to be honest it was different from the norm seeing such a small localised block.

2) How do I know if my heart is doing OK. I excericse a lot and feel fine. Ive not used my GTN spray .Is this good?

Cardiologist answer- yes that's really positive. It implies two things. Your heart is recovering really well and immediate intervention as you were in hospital within a few hours when you had your heart attack means some damage but as shown by the echocardiogram the structural integrity of your heart was not impacted.The echocardiogram isn't perfect for assessment but it gives us a good overview.

3) Did I have a proper heart attack or was I lucky and got away with it?

Cardiologist answer- You did have a heart attack . The EG showed a full blockage. However when you were in the stent lab, part of the clot dissolved, which allowed a small but critical blood flow to resume. We see this in a small percentage of STEMI patients.

4) Why did I have a heart attack? Why was only the LAD the issue? Will I have another one? I never had any symptoms in my life .

Cardiologist answer- That I can't answer, it's a difficult question as peoples bodies are different. There are people who smoke,drink,eat bad food, are overweight and live long lives, then there's the opposite who don't live long lives. If I were you I would keep doing what you are doing and enjoy life. We will keep you under review for another year.

measurements taken at session

O2 levels 99%

Bp good

End of session.

[Lezzers]

That does sound like a really positive review & it's great that you're doing so well.

Thanks for posting this, the part about the LAD was particularly interesting for me as my husband has a 100% block LAD but all his other arteries are fine. His HA was nearly 30 years ago & a myocardial profusion scan a couple of years ago showed that to still be the case. It might interest you to know he's never had another heart attack.

Ps: sorry about my comments being underlined!! My phone seems to do the strangest things & I don't seem to be able to stop it. Just recently it randomly decided to use italics for everything!! It then stopped & now it's underlining everything instead!🤷‍♀️

[Hidden in reply to Lezzers]

No worries about the underlines

It's fantastic to hear your husband has been HA free since, it gives me great hope for the future

It was an interesting note regarding my LAD and as the cardiologist said everyone presents differently.

I will keep moving forwards as it was such a positive meeting.

[Taviterry]

Congratulations! And well done for emailing him questions before you met - and well done to him for his comprehensive replies. It's a common tip to write down the questions one wants to ask during the meeting, but at my last telephone appointment the consultant made several remarks that took me off my sequence of questions! The remarks were generally positive, but after we'd finished I realised there were still a couple of points that I had meant to raise. It didn't help that I sensed he was rushing the appointment a little.

[Hidden in reply to Taviterry]

Yup he did try to rush but I kept going back to the questions until I felt satisfied.

We owe it to ourselves to get all the information we can, if not at the first attempt then keep bugging them.

[MountainGoat52]

Well done on being proactive about your situation and getting the answers to your questions. Sending the email was an excellent idea.

I was extremely fortunate to be advised of my situation at every stage and so didn't have to ask anything. The doctor that removed my clot and inserted two stents in my RCA explained what he had done. I even had a meeting with a member of the cardiology nursing staff who explained what the medication I was prescribed did and why I needed to be on it. It's a pity this is openness is not universal.

[Hidden in reply to MountainGoat52]

Yup I'm hoping people see this post and realise that a list of questions sent prior to the meeting gives both parties the chance to prepare and set expectations