During the weeks at cardiac rehab, the continuing unanswered question of the “heart scarring” still lingered in my mind, continuously haunting me…

The plan was to have a local cardiologist who was experienced in reading heart MRI’s to read both the MRI in October that was done pre-surgery, and compare it with the “scarred” MRI done during my second hospital stay, post-surgery.

Time had passed, the days turning into weeks, weeks turning into a month. It seemed like eternity while I anxiously waited to hear anything from anyone. I even tried prodding my cardiac rehab nurses every chance I got, and, God love ‘em, they tried their best to ease my mind as I awaited any news from the docs.

When I finally did get a call back from the local cardiology department, I was told that the cardiologist who looked at the most recent MRI did confirm that there appeared to be some type of scarring.  I was told that maybe I was dwelling too much on HOW it happened, and that maybe I should press forward, regardless of what the MRI showed.

Uhhhhhh….. NOT!!

Whether or not I had a heart attack, or a “cardiac event” if you’d like to phrase it more subtly, mattered A LOT to me, and by gosh, by golly, I was ready to get to the bottom of it!!!

It was right about this time that my cardiologist from Cleveland (personally) called to inform me he had gotten my records from the hospital stays and did compare both images of the pre and post-surgery MRI’s.

He explained that, to the best of his knowledge, the “scarring” on the post-surgery MRI almost looked like,

 

Get ready for this,

 

Bad imaging…..

 

And all the Heavenly hosts shone down and the angels’ voices rang out in a glorious unison of,

“HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!

HAL-LE-LU-JAH!!!”

I

EXHALED

THE

BIGGEST

SIGH

OF

RELIEF

IMAGINABLE!!!

My Cleveland doc clarified that, to be sure, he still wanted to have a colleague who had more experience reading MRI’s to review them both before banking on that.

Fine!!!

Do whatever!!!

I was just so grateful for that tiny glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, my little heart that had undergone so much already, was OK.

His call back came the next day and the colleague too, agreed, (thank you Jesus!) that it did, in fact, look like bad imaging!!!

To be extra certain though, he advised me to come back up to Cleveland to have some additional testing done including another echocardiogram.

He explained that if there was, in fact, any cardiac event that took place, the echo would show evidence in the way the heart muscle was squeezing.

He also made mention of performing a “sniff test,” one of the tests that was discussed during my last local hospital stay that was never completed.

The “sniff test,” which is a fluoroscopy chest x-ray, looks at the diaphragm during different breathing maneuvers to see how well the lungs and diaphragm perform. His reasoning for requesting this test was to rule out the possibility of any diaphragm paralysis or paresis that could potentially happen during cardiac surgery, and could possibly be the cause of symptoms such as the PVC’s I was battling.

I spoke to my husband and some of the local cardiologists, and all were in agreement that it would be worth the trip to go back to Cleveland to get their opinion and additional evaluations.

And so, it was back to Ohio we went, this time trying to make a fun, sight-seeing mini-vaca out of it!

 

Once we arrived at the clinic, I was taken back for my EKG and echocardiogram.

Less than two hours later while waiting for my fluoroscopy chest x-ray appointment, my Cleveland cardiologist who sat just one floor above me, called my cell phone to inform me he had just read and evaluated the echocardiogram.

He was happy to say that not only did it confirm there was no heart damage, but that my heart function was back to normal, actually measuring above normal!!

Then it was up to see the EP (electrophysiologist) doctor. A twenty-four-hour heart monitor  was ordered and I was hooked up before I left to head back home. After that twenty-four hours, I would then wear a two-week heart monitor.  Between those monitors and the cardiac rehab monitors, I literally looked like a walking science experiment!  After their allotted times had passed, I would mail these monitors back to the clinic in Ohio and data would be collected as to whether or not an ablation would be needed to remedy the PVC’s and keep my heart in rhythm.

I was so relieved to finally hear that no “cardiac event” had occurred as I had believed for over a month. Despite the dizziness and heart flutters, I was elated!

 

“You give me that funny feeling in my tummy…”

Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Love Rollercoaster 1996

 

And so the rollercoaster ride continues…

Shortly after returning home, my Cleveland doc called again.

This time he had the results of my chest x-ray.

He explained that his hypothesis was accurate.

The x-ray showed that the findings were compatible with left hemi diaphragm paralysis or paresis…

My stomach flipped.

I wasn’t sure what all that meant, but it certainly didn’t sound as promising as the previous test results he had called me with.

I freaked.

He told me not to.

I trusted him, so I quickly calmed down.

He went on to say that although not a typical result of heart surgery, but certainly not uncommon, this was a possibility that could occur when opening the chest cavity. The phrenic nerve that controls the diaphragm can become unintentionally injured during a cardiothoracic procedure resulting in possible paralysis or paresis of one or both sides of the diaphragm.

The good news was that it only seemed to affect my left side, I also had no symptoms, and in a lot of cases, this situation tends to resolve itself without any medical intervention at all.

He stated that he would recheck with a follow-up x-ray in about a year and see how things progressed. Until then, we would wait and see what the data collected from the holter monitors showed. The doctors would then collaborate to better determine what was actually causing the PVC’s and then work to remedy them.

“Life is like a roller coaster. It has its ups and downs, but it’s your choice to either scream or enjoy the ride…”

I was blessed.

I had the most skilled team of doctors in the world on this road with me.

My heart was fixed! I had a lot to be thankful for!!

This was just a mere uphill climb, and although it appeared to be slow, somewhat jerky and filled with blinded anxiety about which direction lay ahead, I had faith in the One controlling the ride.

For He had seen me through the twists and turns so far, and I knew, if by chance, a sudden drop was on the horizon, He would surely guide me through that too.