Chest Pain

After the chemo iv, my bladder was full and I had to relieve myself a couple of times by using a commode. I had just got back onto the bed after I had relieve myself for the third time, when I felt a sharp pain in my chest, slightly to the left. I told a nurse who happened to be in the room and she went to page for the doc on night duty. Later, she came with an ECG machine and said the doc wanted one done. As I was in pain, I asked when would the doc be coming and was told after he had seen the ECG.

It was a long wait before the doc came. After checking and asking some questions, he commented that my ECG looked ok, but he would be giving me some medicine to relief the pain. It was another long wait and I had to call for the nurse again, before I was given my medicine, 5ml of morphine.

In the morning, the sharp pain had gone and was replaced by dull muscle aches in the chest area.

I told Dr Wong when she came to check on me. Initially, she didn't believe me and even suggested that it was probably the chemo drugs attacking the cancer cells. My cancer cells were all on my right and the left was clean, so how could that be possible. I had a hard time trying to convince her and she left without saying anything specific.

Sometime later, a Dr F said that as I had complained of chest pain, Dr Wong had asked him to come and find out more details from me and to ascertain the cause of the pain.

I was asked to describe what happened and what I had felt before and after the morphine. He said the heart is actually just to the left of the breastbone and not so far left. That was where I had felt the pain.

Subsequently, blood samples were taken to test for blood enzyme. The blood enzymes would show if there was any damage to the heart.

Cardiac enzyme studies measure the levels of the enzyme creatine phosphokinase (CPK, CK) and the protein troponin (TnI, TnT) in the blood. Low levels of these enzymes and proteins are normally found in your blood, but if your heart muscle is injured, such as from a heart attack, the enzymes and proteins leak out of damaged heart muscle cells, and their levels in the bloodstream rise.

Because some of these enzymes and proteins are also found in other body tissues, their levels in the blood may rise when those other tissues are damaged. Cardiac enzyme studies must always be compared with your symptoms, your physical examination findings, and electrocardiogram (EKG, ECG) results.

According to Dr F, the blood enzyme test results indicate damage to the heart, but he also mentioned that subsequent tests indicated an improvement, which was a little unusual as it normally takes a couple of days for the blood enzymes to return to normal.

A CT scan of the chest and a CT Cardiac Calcium Scoring were arranged for 22 Feb.

Cardiac calcium scoring uses a special X-ray test called computed tomography (CT) to check for the buildup of calcium in plaque on the walls of the arteries of the heart (coronary arteries). This test is used to check for heart disease in an early stage and to determine how severe it is. Cardiac calcium scoring is also called coronary artery calcium scoring.

The coronary arteries supply blood to the heart. Normally, the coronary arteries do not contain calcium. Calcium in the coronary arteries is a sign of coronary artery disease (CAD).