"I feel very fortunate"

I had been suffering from extreme tiredness and  breathlessness for a few weeks. Also constant extreme pain from right temple. Went to my GP who took blood samples as he was concerned about bowel cancer. Tests showed low iron /anemia. The hospital cancer rapid response team called to discuss symptoms and suspected that the issue was actually due to inflammation of temporal arteries.

They passed me onto the rheumatoid consultant who called my back immediately and asked me to go down and see him immediately as they explained that they needed to start me on a course or steroids right away. I went down right away and met with Dr Wazir who did a quick consultation and examination, then gave me a prescription for the steroids. By the next morning my head pain had completely gone and has stayed away ever since.

I have since been back to see Dr Wazir after three weeks. He discussed my symptoms and result from biopsy from right temple. Also discussed my future regarding the use of the steroids to manage the condition. I am so impressed with the care that I have received and the way it was so swift in diagnosing and treating my condition . Dr Wazir was so patient and precise in the way that he explained every detail to me and in arranging bloods and further tests in order to keep an on my condition.

During my recovery after three weeks of max dosage of the steroids I was on my training bike exercising when I noticed that my heart rate seemed to stick at 133bpm. By increasing my power and lowering it had no effect on my heart rate. Stopped and got off the bike and rested but heart still remained at 133bpm. Gave it three hours and decided to A&E where they dealt with me quickly. Tried various methods to reduce the heart rate to no avail. Transferred to cardio where they used increasing doses of drugs to get the heart rate down. the doctors were very good at explaining to me what was happening and how they would deal with it. It was explained to me about the possibility of having to shock my heart back into rhythm. 

After 29 hours the drugs eventually worked and my heart rate returned to normal (just under 60bpm). Once again the doctors were first class in explaining to me what they were doing . They continually monitored my ECG .   They had an ultrasound carried out on my heart which did show slight dilation in the upper chambers and aorta. An MRI is being arranged next for more detail. The heart AF may have been instigated by the intense session on my bike. For my future I am now on beta blockers and blood thinning tablets. Although this is a pretty grim series of events it has been dealt with incredibly swiftly by such professionals. It's not until you actually require this sort of service that you realize what a dedicated professional team that we have around us. I feel very fortunate.