When The Body Tries To Warn You – Part 1
Every year around this time, my mind plays this endless loop. I cannot stop it. This story, and the parts that will follow, are not just about cancer survivorship, because the situation applies to everyone, regardless if you have ever had cancer or not. Because the truth is, you do not need to have gone through cancer to experience this. And we all have heard it referred to as this, “the silent killer,” and likely know someone who suffered this fate. My story still haunts me to this day, and every time that I hear someone describing what I experienced, something clicks and I urgently try to convince them, to seek emergency help right away. In fact, there are several reading this who are alive today because I heard them describe their symptoms and I urged them to go to the emergency room.
It had been eighteen years since I finished my treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. As any cancer patient hopes for, I was living my life again, without cancer. Sure, it was not as I had planned, but life was good. I got through my first five years of remission without relapsing, so I was told I no longer needed to see my oncologist as the chances of my cancer coming back at this point were slim.
Over this time period, I had done my share of traveling, literally all over the world. Finally I locked into a job I could call a career. And the most important part of my cancer survivorship, I became a Dad. I was now 42 years old, and still cancer free. My focus was now on my daughters, ages 5 and 3 years old.
Now, here is the part YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION TO!!! What I am about to share with you, you do not need to have had cancer to have this happen to you. And not hyperbole, it might just save your life.
In early to mid April, I made a phone call to my family doctor (who I had known for decades). I was not someone known for complaining about my health issues, and truly she only saw me maybe once a year to administer an annual seasonal allergy shot. In spite of my cancer history, I was fairly healthy. There was this one time I tangled with some poison oak, ended up with painful huge blisters. I went in to the office, and even the receptionist was like, “this has to be pretty bad if Paul is in here.”
This was the conversation that I had with Dr. J. on the phone:
“I need your advice. I am dealing with this weird pain/tightness, in the upper left side of my chest. It doesn’t last more than a minute, but it happens damn near all of the time when it does. I am doing something physical, I get that discomfort, and about a minute later, it goes away. I could kind of describe it as the sensation you get, when you go jogging in the cold, like a “side sticker”, only not in the side, but in the upper left of my chest and shoulder. It is so annoying, is there anything I can do to get this to stop? It has been going on for months.”
I want you to re-read that last sentence again. It is bolded and in italics for a reason. Because what you will read later on, will hammer the point home, just how lucky I was.
Over time, I play back this time period again and again. I don’t recall when this sensation started, but I am able to remember as early as January of 2008, because I was shoveling snow when I would get this feeling. But as the weather warmed, and I would mow the lawn, yep, got that feeling. At work, I moved heavy equipment, and felt that pain every day. And though I could never be misidentified as a Mr. Olympia, I was in good shape because I went to the gym every day, and yes, I felt that chest tightness while at the gym.
The eliptical machine. This exercise machine gets both the credit with saving my life as well as almost costing me my life. And to this day, the trauma of my experience still terrorizes me when I am made to use it (as in ordered to use in physical therapy). My daily routine back in 2008, in April and before, I would go to the gym, get on this machine (I preferred it because of the calories I could burn), and then head over to the weight room for the rest of my workout. If you notice on the handles, just below the control panel, there are two silver grips. These are sensors. I chose to hold on to there, of course not getting the full workout by using the full handles but what this allowed me to do, was to watch my vitals, mainly my heart rate, to make sure I got the heartbeat into the range to burn calories.
But as I said, I had this tightness in my chest whenever I began doing something physical, and the eliptical was no exception. But as I held on to the sensors, I saw the display with my heart rate. It was climbing, rapidly, like an 18-wheeler rolling down a road with no brakes. And that tightness and pain was getting worse. It was less than a minute, and my heart rate was at 152. It should only have been less than 110. This lasted approximately a minute, and then the tightness and pain stopped, though the heart rate remained. I kept going as I felt more comfortable, finished the eliptical an hour later, and went over to the gym to finish my workout. I had a feeling something was not right, which is why I called Dr. J. She would not take this call lightly, as I said, I don’t complain about anything. From my description to her, this was her response:
“Given your history with cancer, I don’t think it is unreasonable to order a nuclear stress test.” Okay, so if you read my book, I had no idea what an oncologist was when I was sent there for my cancer, I had no idea what a nuclear stress test was or what it was for. But that is the trust I had in my doctor. She knew what she was doing, even if it might have been a hunch on her part. She was always spot on.
Now, if you personally have ever tried to make an appointment for an xray or any kind of test, hell, even an appointment to see a doctor, we, as the patients are lucky if we can get seen within a year these days. Back in 2008, it was not that bad, but yes, you could wait weeks or even months to get in. This is where I really got lucky, as she (her staff) called and set up the appointment for April 16, 2008, six days from today’s date.
I continued on with my routines, work, exercising, mowing the lawn while I waited for that date, and still experiencing those symptoms. I was given instructions how to prepare for the test, fasting orders, what to wear (as I would be walking on a treadmill), and how the test would be performed. With my history as a cancer survivor, I can say, I was not afraid, nor concerned. I was a happy and health 42 year old Dad, with everything going for him. This wasn’t going to be anything serious.
Paul's Heart 