The mind is still swirling and whirling and pondering. It comes down simply to apprehension and a certain sense of unknowing. The questions I asked originally have to a degree been answered. At least with enough information to be ready for the further questions that need to be posed and hopefully answered by the professional, not Doctor Google.

So what exactly is involved with the issue and my heart?

The electrics of the heart are fine. The structure of the heart is excellent. The plumbing is stuffed. The Right coronary artery, the Circumflex artery, the Left anterior descending artery, the Circumflex artery all showing calcification and narrowing. The coronary artery calcium score is 1301.1. A high score is not good a low score is. Yahoo, I have finally become a number!

From the report: " Coronary calcifications are a marker for coronary atherosclerosis. The more calcium is detected, the higher is the likelihood for an obstructive coronary disease.However, there is no unique relationship  between the amount of detected calcium and the extent of localisation of this disease. The amount of calcium is closely correlated with the extent of coronary atherosclerosis, although the true "plaque burden" is underestimated. With a high amount of coronary calcium, a moderate to high risk of a cardiovascular event within the next 2 to 5 years can be assumed."

Hmmm, welcome to shit city!


What are the potential remedies?

Two options basically, stents or coronary by pass surgery. Stents are employed in a relatively non invasive manner. A wire is passed up from the groin into the femoral artery to access the internal working of the heart. Dye is injected and the heart is viewed like an X ray. Measurements are made, flows are watched and if possible a stent is employed. A stent simply opens up the area of narrowing and stays in place afterwards to maintain the passage for blood flow. This procedure in the main is performed whilst you are awake and requires an overnight stay.
Coronary bypass surgery requires opening the chest, accessing the heart , removing the blocked piping and reattaching all the plumbing. This is pretty major surgery.

What are the complications to any remedies?

There are a long list of potential complications to any surgical procedure but there are usually only one of two more common ones. With stents the issue during surgery is a reaction by the patient to the dye used to "see" within the heart. The literature reports a 1-2% incidence of death or urgent surgery required. You never hear of this "on the street" so I suspect it is overstated as it involved data from all manner of places performing this type of procedure.
Longer term, stents can move, stents can re-block, stents can become blocked due to clotting. With medication in the form of blood thinners, with medical check ups in the future, these risks are minimised. So I believe. So I hope.

Having been treated with cholesterol lowering drugs since my late thirties, have I been paying money needlessly and been ripped off?

At this stage, no idea! Let's leave it as not enough information to provide answer but will keep looking.

What exercise is potentially bad exercise?

Will ask the professional. Certain exercise such as rowing and digging pump a lot of blood only around the top regions of the body. These are the exercise types that may cause an issue but we shall see.

If my heart is affected by narrowing of the arteries, what about arteries in other parts of my body and how will I know about these?

There are certainly areas that can be affected by the formation of plaque and have the resultant narrowing. This needs further answers from the professional especially as to how this would manifest then what the options are.

What can I change today to help me in the future?

• Stop smoking-did that years ago.
• Exercise-do heaps of it but now want to know what I should be doing-talk to the professional.
• Eat less fatty foods- did that years ago with the exception of cheese., and have not cut out all meat.
• Reduce salt intake-did that years ago.
• Reduce stress- ??? What constitutes stress? One needs to live, one needs to be on time, one never has enough money, I have not heard from the kids recently, the dog has run off, where did I leave my wallet?  Talk to the professional.

I am now actively awaiting my coronary angiogram where I will be talking to the professional and hopefully fitting a few more pieces into the jigsaw puzzle. The procedure is soon but I will tell you about that later.