Just a heads up guys & gals, I had a stent put in my diagnal branch which was 95% blocked about six months ago. About three months post surgery the ole arm pains were returning along with the shortness of breath. Whale this past Thursday I took the dog for a walk after work. Right from the start I was huffing and puffing, my chest started to hurt along with my left arm. Usually if I push through the symptoms go away after five minutes or so, they didn't this time. We finished the walk, sat down to relax and still felt like crap. Got up Friday morning for work and still no recovery. Friday evening the symptoms got worse. The pain went from my tricep up into my shoulder and eventually my neck. Well thinkin this ain't good I figured I'd discuss this with my parole officer when she got home from work. By that time my left forearm was numb and my fingers were tingling. So it was an oh-dark-thirty drive to the ER. Upon arrival due to my history is was admitted and treatment for a heart attack was initiated. Blood test, chest xray, ekg, iv start. All of the fun stuff. After a conference call between a cardiologist, resident, pa from cardiac center everyone agreed that it most likely was my heart. I had a heart cath at noon on saturday, the stent that was installed back in August was 85%+ blocked. So after a rotor-rooter job a longer/larger diameter stent was installed. The arm pain subsided almost instantly. The best part of the deal was that I caught it early enough to prevent a heart attack.

Moral of the story, doc told me it isn't uncommon for a stent to plug up 3~6 months after being installed. Pay attention to your body my friends. It may save your life.