Trailer

SPEAKER_03 0:00

In late July twenty twenty one, I was arguably in the best condition of my adult life having trained all summer for a grueling cycling event at the end of the month. I was fired up. I felt great and I couldn't wait to ride. When the day came, unfortunately, or possibly fortunately, as you'll hear, the ride had to be canceled due to an explosive fire that erupted the day prior. Little did I know that fire may have saved my life. The next few weeks began to unfold into a story that would certainly change my life forever.

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Today's route is a little bit different than what we normally do going up to roads that we typically uh bypass.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

Hi, I'm Jeff Holden, and I'm excited to continue my story. So, with the cancellation of the death ride, yeah, that's what it's called, in July of 2021, I figured I was going to keep the fitness level up and just ride out more with the group, get a little more competitive. I mean, when you're 65 years old, every opportunity to beat somebody with less gray hair is a point of pride and well, bravado. But something happened on my next group ride, and it happened several more times before I was smart enough to get to the doctor to check it out. Like you, I'm sure we don't want to admit something might be wrong, and we just work through whatever it is until we can't. I had developed a searing pain in the center of my chest that would occur right when I was starting out for a ride. Initially, it was only a couple of minutes long, and it didn't reflect on any of my monitors as anything odd. It was just very, very uncomfortable. Surely nothing serious. But with each successive ride, that pain lasted longer, and it seemed more severe. And of course I would ride through it with pride.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

It can't be.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Finally, you know, it occurred to me this is something I need to get looked at. I mean you really shouldn't be anticipating how long you're gonna have to deal with it until you can get in with the group again. On Monday, August 23rd, I went to my primary care physician and I had some x-rays done. Had an EKG taken, set an appointment for the cardiologist, and that was on Friday, the twenty-seventh, same week. Unfortunately, I never kept that meeting on Friday as I had a myocardial infarction, a heart attack. Yes, a heart attack on Thursday morning. That incident set off a series of tests, return hospital visits, specialists, various drug therapies, cardiac rehab, and finally several other life-threatening heart issues that all made no sense, nor were they getting accurately diagnosed to the point of remedy. Sound familiar to you? I would eventually get diagnosed with severe vasospasms, a myocardial bridge, and a blocked left anterior descending, or LAD artery, as the culprits of my symptoms. What transpired and where I am today is a story this podcast, Imperfect Heart, will tell. It will also tell stories from the experience of cardiologists. It will tell stories of medical professionals familiar with myocardial bridges talking about the symptoms these bridges can create. We'll have stories from other professionals familiar with those suffering from myocardial bridges and the treatments they've seen with successful outcomes, not only physically, but mentally as well. And we'll have stories from you, real stories of the challenges and symptoms your myocardial bridge has created. This is not a podcast meant to discourage, but to encourage. My intent in sharing these experiences is to give everyone with this condition hope. Hope. Knowing there are others like you that have similar situations. Hope. Hope. Knowing that more and more physicians are recognizing myocardial bridge symptoms as something more than just stress or anxiety. Right? I mean gaslighting anyone. Is it possible that many sudden cardiac deaths could be caused by undiagnosed myocardial bridges? More and more is known each and every day. More and more surgeons are practicing the process of unroofing a myocardial bridge. More and more of us, those with bridges, are being relieved of some, if not all of our symptoms of the bridge. Catching the culprit of heart conditions early is critical, and having an audio forum to share, to enlighten, and educate as well as inform and even entertain will make a difference. I look forward to helping get these stories told and changing, maybe even saving lives in the process. Join me on Thursday, January 19th, as I speak with my first encounter in the process, my first cardiologist in the process of diagnosis, Dr. Rishi Menon.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

We thought this is likely going to be typical blood clot inside a coronary causing an interruption in blood supply to the heart muscle, leading you to have heart muscle damage that showed up on a blood test. And we were going to do the standard We did do the standard test, angiogram, cardiac cath. So what we were anticipating was that blood clot that we were talking about, or some obvious or demonstrable narrowing of the coronary. Again, typically that's with in the acute setting of blood clot or cholesterol. But we didn't see any of that. You had very normal-looking coronaries on this test. There was some slight variation on there, but nothing that we thought would explain your symptoms at that time.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

Thanks for listening. For more information about our program or to reach me directly, visit the website, myimperfectheart.com. If you like what you heard today, please give a positive review, thumbs up, high-5, hey, you know, whatever your app likes. And be sure to share it with everyone important to you so they understand what it is you're dealing with. Please subscribe as well. Welcome each day with gratitude and positivity. Imperfect Heart is a production of Hear Me Now Studio.