This is Part Three in Chris McClelland’s series about recovering from heart disease and getting back in the swimming pool.
The cardiologist ran a stress test on my heart and the results were puzzling to me, but understandable to him. “Your heart has developed one hundred percent blockage in one of your arteries. Not the widow maker, but one of the minor ones.”
“How can that be,” I said. “Back last August I had a double by-pass.”
“That was on a different artery, and that artery is now fine, after the double by-pass.”
“But I don’t understand. I’ve been following my diet. My diabetes is mostly under control and within tolerance. I have been doing daily cardio exercise for a while now. Shouldn’t all of this show progress with no blockage.”
“Unfortunately, even the best regimen can be undermined because blockage can develop almost instantaneously and that is what has happened here. We will have to go in, clear out all the blockage, and put in more stents.”
Of course, this news left me crestfallen. Another procedure. And after I had worked so hard for months, exercising five days a week with regular cardio workouts, and keeping a strict diet to control my blood sugar. It seemed like I would never get back in the pool.
Well, the doctor went back into my heart with a procedure called an angioplasty and was able to clear out all one hundred percent of the blockage. Not only that, but he placed four metal stents in that artery, for a grand total of six stents. He called this treatment “the full metal jacket” because the artery now had metal stents from top to bottom.
Meanwhile, for Father’s Day, my wife gave me a package of gifts including a new swim suit, goggles, and cap. Also a large and plush towel. I started looking for places to swim, once I was ready. I would start off slow and measured. I searched for hotel pools first, thinking I could make out a payment arrangement with them. I am in that process now. Later, I will work up to 25 yard pools, and build into the kind of workouts that could prepare me for eventually entering competition.
So, after the stents, I was back in the physical therapy routine twice a week, and I’ve been talking to the physical therapists about working up to upper body strength work outs too.