Heartache Tonight

Back in the late '70's, The Eagles came out with the song "Heartache Tonight" that reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts. While I've never had a song reach anything on any chart, I sure did have a heartache one night. No, my husband didn't break my heart and my kids didn't break it either although they may break my patience almost every single day! While The Eagles sang of emotional heartache, I had physical heart ache.

April 3rd was a cloudy day and I needed to exercise so I jumped on the elliptical and pushed myself to get through an intensive aerobic workout. My jeans were fitting a bit tight after months of Christmas and Valentines and birthday celebrations and it was time to get back to regular exercise. I finished my workout and felt great! That evening, I felt a pain between my shoulder blades in my back. It was a gnawing pain and I assumed I overdid on the elliptical and pulled something. I went to bed that night hoping it would subside and be better in the morning. I awoke around 3am with intense pain in my upper back and minor pain in my chest making it difficult to take a deep breath. I got up, took two Advil and went back to bed still thinking I pulled something.  By morning, it was worse still and I decided I better go see my dr for something to help my "pulled muscle".

I went to see my GP and explained my elliptical workout and told her I assumed I was out of shape and over exerted myself.  The weird part though was that it hurt much worse when I laid down or changed positions from sitting to standing or vice versa. She said I should get some tests done so off I went to the outpatient center. There I had labs drawn, two EKG's, an ECHO and a CT of my chest.

Labs were fine. Whew, no relapse. CT showed slight opacity in my left lung which could be minor pneumonia or cGVHD.  The big issue was my blood pressure was very high at 156/94 and my pulse was racing at 113. The first EKG they did as I laid flat on my back and the pain was almost unbearable. I could hardly breath and certainly wasn't relaxed. That EKG showed that I was having a heart attack. Thankfully, the technician ran upstairs to the Cardiologist's office and showed him and he told her to do it again but have me sit up. When we did that, the pain was less intense and the EKG showed pericarditis. It meant that the lining around my heart was inflamed.

This landed me in the hospital overnight for observation and a large dose of antibiotics "just in case it was bacterial". Turns out it was either viral or another cGVHD symptom. I left the hospital with some meds for my blood pressure (which I'm now off of) and just minor lingering pain. I had my follow up with the cardiologist and he released me "unless I need him again". My transplant doctor wasn't overly concerned and said it was likely viral and a "one and done" experience but it could be cGVHD and may reoccur. But at least now I know what it is and will get into doctor promptly instead of taking Advil at 2am.