I have felt occasionally and rapidly short of breath for the past few weeks now. Since getting back from Florida I have felt lethargic and every now and then just can't breath. Like there is pressure on my neck and chest. Inhalers don't work.
It can last from a few seconds to a few mins at a time, yet I am pretty much able to train as normal. Unless of course a wave hits me in the moment.
I called my GP this morning to see if I could get an appointment, got through just after 8am.
Received the triage texts shortly after that.
Around 10am I got a call from the surgery saying the GP would call between 11 and 12.
About 15 mins later I got a text from the GP saying she wanted to see me in the next 90 mins of possible.
I 'hurried' to the surgery and saw the doctor after a short wait. Thankfully it was a GP I have a history with, so she listened while I explained. The confusion grew as I described what was happening with me. After a few checks and asking me if I thought there was anything it might be, she said she wanted to get something checked.
It seemed like because I had flown recently, and because I had been in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid, she wanted to be sure it was not DVT or PE. She then made a call to Lewisham Hospital to get some advice, and after five mins of chatting, came off the phone and asked me to go straight to Ambulatory Care at Lewisham Hospital. They would run some tests to rule out Pulmonary Embolism as a diagnosis.
So here I sit now.
Having only ever seen signs for it before, and having no idea what it was, I have since found out that it is an all in one department that runs a barrage of tests, gets all the results back in the same day. Rapid diagnosis you might call it.
So far within 30 mins of getting here I have had AN ECG, blood pressure test, temp, SATS, and finally bloods. The bloods have been sent off and as I write this, I am waiting on the results. Just to be clear, I'm in no rush to get them, I am massively thankful for their care here today.
The wait time is approx two hours so I am told, which is fine with me.
In the meantime a barrage of messages have been sent by me to loved ones and work, making sure everyone is in the loop.
First world problems time..
My phone battery is at 29%, not helped by me writing this..
I'm a little hungry now and that leads to a bit of a nauseating feeling.
And I would love a drink right now.
All that said, all is well, I feel OK other than a shortage of breath occasionally.
Oh and I read my GP notes, and saw "Dyspnoea" definition.. " awareness of the sensation of shortness of breath. It may be pathological, psychological or social in origin."
I shall add to this post as and when I get my results. I am expecting to be told I am good to go. But if that is NOT the case, the next step is xray and scans.
Oh and side note, when taking my SATS the nurse kept asking me to breathe deep..... Deeper..... DEEPER.. before saying "that's fine." So I am going to assume they were low lol
In the end the bloods took about three and a half hours to come back. In which time I was moved to a comfier seat in a booth, which was a nice touch.
In the meantime a consultant came to see me to get some back story and try and work out what was going on. We chatted for about 10 mins, talking health history, recent travel, changes in health recently etc.
The outcome " quite unremarkable". Said with a smile, and reassuring tone, he said with all the info he already had, he was quite sure that there was nothing drastic going on, but obviously something was happening or I would not be there.
All my bloods were back with exception to the one he wanted, the D-dimer for micro clots or PE. In the meantime, to cover all bases he sent me for an x-ray. With a parting explanation that the xray would just confirm whatever the bloods were saying.
There would be two outcomes.
1/ D-dimer registered something, in which case start treatment.
2/ D-dimer clear, so would want to run a 24hr at home ECG, to check for arrhythmia which MIGHT... at a stretch cause short spells of breathlessness. Unlikely but only right to rule out.
10 mins later, x-ray done, results came back, all clear. D-dimer came back registering absolutely nothing, so all clear for PE. Big stuff out of the way, that was a relief.
So next I will be contacted by cardiology for an appointment to go and get the ECG fitted, then removed the next day. And in the meantime, I am to follow up with my GP for further investigations and explore other routes to treat.
The breathlessness continues as sporadically as it always has. I have returned to using my new inhaler, and am pleased to report I slept a little better last night.
So watch this space, who knows what it is, but the thing I do know for sure is it's frickin annoying.
Thanks for reading and thanks everyone for their concerns.... Mainly about who gets my bikes, but.. 😂
