Stress Test

 I had an exercise tolerance test yesterday.  I had the test because of angina like episodes that I have had that are infrequent but the last one was more concerning and scared me more.  The whole experience seemed rather odd and I don’t know if everything that took place was normal procedure or not.  Toward the end of the test, when I was walking on the steepest incline at the greatest speed, the technician administering the exam started acting in an odd and surprising (to me) way and said to me a couple of times “Is what you are feeling normal?”  “Is what you are feeling right now normal?”  I was baffled and told him that I didn’t understand the question.  I was at the third level of a treadmill stress test that was making me very physically fatigued and worn out.  So no, what I was feeling right then was not normal. Duh! 😯  Seriously though, I understood that he was asking about something else, but I really couldn’t comprehend the question.  He then shut down the treadmill and stopped the test because I wasn’t reaching my target heart rate in the amount of time that he expected this to happen and my blood pressure had become really high.  As soon as I stopped my blood pressure dropped right back down to normal. 

Now I have been called to go back tomorrow morning.  I have no idea why. 

Update: Following cardiac catheterization I learned that I have a significantly blocked heart artery.  I now have 4 new pills to swallow each day.  Three Rx and one low dose aspirin.  If I have another angina spell while on medication I will need to have a stent placed in my blocked artery.  Life is full of surprises.  2024 become a heart patient. 🤦‍♀️

Further update:  I have one spot where I have a 40% artery blockage but it turns out that this was not the cause of my angina episodes.  The angina that I have is vasospastic or variant angina.  I have had very infrequent milder episodes of this for years without knowing what it was, but the episodes have recently become a lot more serious.