Heart Trouble

My Chinese Experience

This is my short adventure into the Chinese cardiovascular landscape.

I’ve been in Shanghai the last 15 year and never had any heart or serious health issues, though in my early 50s, I do have to be a bit on the watch for any heart events, especially as my dad has had an attack.

So this spring I was out biking in the city and after mild 10 minutes of biking, feel sudden chest pressure I’ve never had before. Was very weird and didn’t go away in a minute or two, but persisted for 15+ minutes. Heart attack, right?

Fortunately I had a doctor’s appointment that afternoon for a physical, so I was able to call and move that earlier and go visit. We did a blood test and EKG and all normal.

Now what?

We scheduled a stress test with the cardiologist for a few days later, but before that test I had at least 1–2 more episodes, which were scary, too.

The stress test showed only minor issues at very high cardio levels, but was otherwise unremarkable and indicated my heart is healthy for normal and exercise levels. The cardiologist wanted an imaging test to look at any restrictions in blood flow, etc.

But the next day I had another episode and after going to the clinic yet again (my 3–4th visit in a week), my doctor decided to check me into the hospital until we could do an imaging or angio test to see what was wrong. To be super safe, they sent me by ambulance, which was an experience.

VIP Hospital Wing

I was sent to the Shanghai №1 Hospital, founded by Americans over a century ago. The №1 doesn’t mean best, just the first one in this area, though this one has both very good cardio teams and equipment, and an international VIP wing.

After another EKG and tests, I was in my room, where I’d stay or a week, though on the VIP floor with our dedicated nurses, quiet halls, nicer food, and daily doctor visits. None of that is common on normal floors. We even had a VIP cafe, lounge and rooftop garden for walks (useful to try to induce heart issues; and I think I finished a whole audio book while walking around).

The next day we were off to the huge catheterization labs in the basement. They had 6–8 of these huge rooms with lots of cool moving equipment, staff of techs, etc. The goal was a good look at my heart.

The process was uneventful, though not very comfortable, especially when trying to unsuccessfully fit the large size ultrasound catheter into my seemingly large vein.

The end result was I have a modest plaque or restriction in one main vein, which is not that serious nor a big risk as long as I manage my diet, exercise, and be an overall good boy.

Continued Episodes

But I was still getting a racing heartbeat and chest compression, so I stayed in the hospital the rest of the week, with daily tests and finally a 24 hour EKG monitor. All were negative and completely normal.

Most of my days were spent reading, working, and walking. Audio books sure are your friend at times like this, and made quick work of the interesting end-of-world virus book “Station Eleven”.

In the end, I was discharged with a focus on exercise, diet, and stress reduction.

Over the 3–4 months since then, the chest or anxiety issues still continued on and off, sometimes while exercising, but sometimes just walking down the street. We continue to work on these issues, including & especially stress reduction (which I’ve written about before on Medium).

This also serves as a reminder to eat better, exercise more, and relax a bit. , Along with an annual look at your cholesterol & other basic things.

And of course if you have chest pain, get it checked out ASAP, especially if, like me, it came out of the blue.