M R I = U B TRAPPED

I'm hoping (for all sorts of obvious reasons) that the cardiac MRI performed on me today will come back with good news. It's not expected to come back with bad news so I'm not particularly worried on that front but there is a specific reason I want to bid my cardiologist 'goodbye.'

I do not want to have a cardiac MRI ever ever ever again.

It was not an "open" MRI machine.

I am, for the record, an "open" MRI shaped guy. Today they squeezed me into the equivalent of a culvert under a dirt road.

For an hour.

My arms were squeezed so close to my sides that both of my hands quickly "fell asleep" and by the end of the test I was seriously worried about permanent damage because I could no longer move several of my fingers or make a fist with either hand.

Also, there was a bit of dashed hopes in there too.

Because the test is an hour long they offer you a wide selection of music. Seriously wide. I could have chosen "Punk Rock," or "Booty Time," or nearly a hundred other categories.

My first choice was "Stand up Comedy" partly because I didn't feel comfortable enough to choose "Naughty Comedy."

This choice was quickly quashed on the grounds that laughing is discouraged during the test. Okay, no problem. Hmmmm. I don't even know what "Booty Time" is, except that it's in the "Urban" category. I guess folks in big cities listen to lots of rap and R/B. I noticed that they didn't have a "Rural" category but if they did I'd suspect you wouldn't be hearing a lot of songs by black artists. Evidently if you have a black singer in your band you are "Urban." Who knew?

By the way, let me remind you that one of the rockin'est rock bands in Rock History had a black singer: Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy. But maybe he doesn't count because he was Irish.

There was not a category titled "Irish Rock," but if'n there was I would have picked it.

I ended up picking "Classic Rock." I like Led Zeppelin as much as the next guy and I haven't listened to most "classic rock" in quite some time so I figured this was as safe a choice as any.

As it turned out, it wouldn’t have mattered. I should have just picked "Booty Time" to see what all the fuss was. After a grand total of two songs the music system went tango-uniform.

Two songs.

"Magic Man" by Heart followed by a blues-rock guitar gravelly low-talking song (not Low Rider but close) whose name or artist or any meaningful lyrics totally escape me.

Then nothing. For an hour as my hands turned progressively into flippers I didn't get to hear any music. No distractions. Just me in my own head.

Not an entirely comforting place to be when my head starts to think of the various things I would need full control of my fingers to continue doing – my job, as only one example.

An hour later they slid me out of the machine and the blood flowed again to my fingers and a minute or so after that I had full digital dexterity. Whew.

Oh yeah and it cost a shit-load of money but I really can't complain about that part of it since my entire hospital stay last month was covered 100% by my insurance (I had met my maximum yearly co-pay due to the earlier belly-button repair surgery).

But I'm not volunteering to do it again soon if I can help it.

Now that I can cross my fingers again I'll do so until my follow-up on the 24^th.

~~

photos:

MRI unit http://www.strokecenter.org

Heart MRI picture: http://www.brighamandwomens.org/

Diagnosis: Myocarditis

from Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia

Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors

Myocarditis is an uncommon disorder that is usually caused by viral infections such as coxsackie virus, adenovirus, and echovirus. It may also occur during or after various viral, bacterial, or parasitic infections (such as polio, influenza, or rubella).

The condition may also be caused by exposure to chemicals or allergic reactions to certain medications and it can be associated with autoimmune diseases.

The heart muscle becomes inflamed and weakened. This causes symptoms of heart failure.

Symptoms

• History of preceding viral illness
• Fever
• Chest pain that may resemble a heart attack
• Joint pain or swelling
• Abnormal heart beats
• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Leg swelling
• Inability to lie flat

Total absence of symptoms is common

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease:

• Fainting, often related to arrhythmias
• Low urine output
• Other symptoms consistent with a viral infection -- headache, muscle aches, diarrhea, sore throat, rashes

I have an MRI scheduled for the 10^th which should be fun since it's non-invasive and doesn’t require me to do anything but just lay there.

They put me on beta-blockers to help repair any damage caused due the inflammation and the first one they tried caused the full body hives.

FULL BODY HIVES

They are finally going away but slowly. I'm feeling a little like Job right about now.

Happy New Year!!

A Week Of Ups And Downs

I just got home from a two night stay at the hospital.

Cut to the important part: I'm fine. I'm still a little sickly but I'll be better soon.

Did you know that the patient is awake during a heart catheterization and gets to see the video of their blood vessels and stuff? I didn't know until it happened to me. It's pretty cool technology: they punch a hole in an artery in your groin and then guide a variety of catheters up into your heart where they dye your blood and take x-ray video to look for blockages and narrowing. There are no nerves in your blood vessels so except for the pain from the hole in my groin and the strange sensations involved with manipulating the entry site itself, it's not unpleasant at all. There is a chance the procedure could actually cause a heart attack which explains why they don't do it to everyone at their checkups.

Back to my week:

Monday I woke up feeling very nauseated. I fed the dog, called in sick to work, then got all sweaty and sat at the base of the stairs back up to the bedrooms. That's when I lost consciousness. Luckily Kelli was there and found me in just seconds. She called 911. Just a few seconds later I had regained consciousness but the medics came and we went to the hospital.

Monday I was in the emergency room from 06:45 to 17:00hrs. They checked heart enzymes to see if I had a heart attack; negative. They did an EKG: no abnormal rhythm. A cardiologist examined my chart and thought to check for a pulmonary embolism. They did a CT scan of my lungs with dye in the blood vessels. No clots. My EKG had a little "smear" on it which a cardiologist wanted to follow up on later but otherwise I was told "You've got a virus, go home and rest." Okay, done. Monday night and most of Tuesday I slept.

Wednesday I woke up and felt a little tightness in my chest. It felt like I had somehow slept on my chest wrong. It wasn't sharp but it did not go away. I have answered far too many 911 calls to ignore chest pain so I woke Kelli up and we went back to the hospital. (Technically I should have called 911 again and had the medics respond so don't follow my example here.)

That's when it got significantly more interesting.

My first EKG showed something a little irregular. The did another one and it came back normal. My blood enzymes came back with elevated troponin. That's not good. That's an indicator of heart muscle damage, usually from a heart attack.

So they told me I'd likely had a mild heart attack and it was time to do the big tests. The cardiologist called the cath-lab and set me up for the angiography. They found the blood vessels in my heart are fine – no obstructions or constrictions.

Therefore no heart attack.

The cardiologist thinks I had a virus which caused some inflammation to my heart. This accounts for both being sick in the first place and for the release of the enzymes. The enzymes are gone and an echocardiogram showed the heart muscle is moving around just fine.

I'm going to follow up and likely get an MRI and probably a stress test just to be sure but I'm feeling much better now.

So is my wife and the rest of my family who were pretty worried during the whole deal.

I was worried too but also thought "Oh man, that means I'm going to have to post on my blog that I'd had a heart attack at 37. The shame; the shame."

My intention is to use this as a nice wake up call and get my health on track. You'll be the judge. Perhaps next year I can be swelling with pride over not being quite such a big fat guy.

Photos:

EKG

Heart Catheter