Well truth is there's no real way of describing it in a few words, actually there is but there may be children tuning in so you'll forgive me if I refrain on that one.
What I will say is that, to quote my cardiologist, 'I am one lucky boy.'
In January 2012, after the Christmas break, I had just resumed 'training' for a charity cycle later that year.
On reflection, I suppose I was in pretty decent shape back then, the irony of which isn't lost on me considering what was secretly brewing in my chest!
But I had noticed within approximately one mile of setting off on the bike that I was starting to experience a niggling chest ache.
However, there were none of the classic warning symptoms like crushing pain or shortness of breath, just a sore point in the same place in my chest.
I was certain it was a muscle playing up and just cycled through it which, with the benefit of hindsight, wasn’t one of my better moves!!
However, there were none of the classic warning symptoms like crushing pain or shortness of breath, just a sore point in the same place in my chest.
I was certain it was a muscle playing up and just cycled through it which, with the benefit of hindsight, wasn’t one of my better moves!!
After becoming aware my heart was ‘missing’ beats and knowing there was some history of heart trouble in my family, I decided to get things checked in the spring of 2012, five months after my initial symptoms.
A few tests were carried out and all seemed ok, but a treadmill test at the beginning of September that year would reveal a very different story.
I was plodding away on the treadmill at an easy pace and very soon the same pattern arose, pain in one part of my chest which, as usual, wasn’t bad enough to make me stop.
However, the lady watching the heart monitor asked me if I was ok as she could obviously see things were going a bit pear-shaped on the screen, and after a few minutes she said 'I've seen enough' and asked her colleague to get me off the treadmill.
Long story short, I found myself admitted to the Coronary Care Unit there and then.
However, the lady watching the heart monitor asked me if I was ok as she could obviously see things were going a bit pear-shaped on the screen, and after a few minutes she said 'I've seen enough' and asked her colleague to get me off the treadmill.
Long story short, I found myself admitted to the Coronary Care Unit there and then.
A week later I was taken by ambulance to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for a cardiac catheterisation (angiogram) to see precisely what the extent of the problem was.
When I arrived, the cardiologist was standing with a copy of my treadmill result and he said 'if this is what I think it is Stephen, you have a serious problem.'
The shock of his words hit me like a wet kipper across the face, and I politely stuttered 'are you sure you've got the right patient?'
When I arrived, the cardiologist was standing with a copy of my treadmill result and he said 'if this is what I think it is Stephen, you have a serious problem.'
The shock of his words hit me like a wet kipper across the face, and I politely stuttered 'are you sure you've got the right patient?'
Well of course he had got the right patient, and it transpired that my left main artery stem had a critical distal lesion (90% narrowed) along with a severe distal left artery-descending lesion. By all accounts, two rather important pieces of plumbing!
The guys in 'the Royal' never pulled any punches when telling me how it was, and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
I was told in no uncertain terms that I was heading for a major 'cardiac ambush' called a 'Widowmaker' and really should have been found on the road with the bike on top of me, the fact I had made it this far and still vertical and breathing was a total mystery to him, however I have my own theory on that.
There really was no doubt that the situation wasn't exactly ideal.
I was told in no uncertain terms that I was heading for a major 'cardiac ambush' called a 'Widowmaker' and really should have been found on the road with the bike on top of me, the fact I had made it this far and still vertical and breathing was a total mystery to him, however I have my own theory on that.
There really was no doubt that the situation wasn't exactly ideal.
A further two weeks were spent back in the Coronary Care Unit, and I then returned to Belfast where I underwent a triple heart bypass.
Apart from a collapsed lung which was efficiently dealt with, the delicate seven and a half hour procedure went according to plan.
With monitors beeping all around, and wires and tubes coming out of me from every angle, I can also vividly remember lying in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and, to paraphrase Oliver Hardy, thinking to myself ‘well Stefano, this is another fine mess you’ve got yourself into!’
In the early days and months following the operation there continued to be 'little complications' along the way, but nothing that couldn't be overcome. I could barely walk in the beginning, but I had immediately set myself a goal of getting back on the bike within a few months.
When I first got home I could just about walk 100 metres, and I did an awesome impression of a penguin in the process!
Then I managed 200 metres, then 400 metres, and within a week I was walking half a mile.
During that winter of 2012/13, my aim was to be walking about five miles which I managed to achieve, despite the best hindering intentions of some fluid on my lungs and aches and pains in places I never knew existed.
And the fluid I coughed up for months afterwards could best be compared to wallpaper paste.
And the fluid I coughed up for months afterwards could best be compared to wallpaper paste.
Not once have I ever remotely felt sorry for myself, instead of 'why me?' I've always thought 'why not me.' However, that said, open heart surgery is not a walk in the park.
Your body, and mind in some cases, go through what is a pretty brutal, but life-saving ordeal.
From a personal perspective, sternum pain and left leg problems still persist daily to this day, and I very often get incredibly fatigued, but I simply see these as the 'new norm' and a small price to pay...... if I didn't have them I'd think there was something wrong with me!
Whilst heart bypass surgery and stenting is not a cure and the underlying heart disease is an ever present companion, there's absolutely no question about it, I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for these procedures.
A lot has certainly gone down since my 'argument' with the surgeon's oscillating saw and all manner of tools he had at his disposal, and from which I came off decidedly second best.
In 2015 the Grim Reaper was again on my case with two of the three bypass grafts having the audacity to totally block, something which took my cardiologist and I by complete surprise, and because of this I had to have a stent placed in the crucial Left Main Stem.
But you know, these things only make you stronger.
In the time since undergoing major open heart surgery, I've had time to reflect and put things into perspective.
I don’t take life too seriously and certainly not for granted, silly things that used to seem important are no longer so, and I have to be careful especially on the bike.......but it is what it is.
The diagram at the beginning of this article just about sums it all up.
Life with Heart Disease really can be something of a mess at times but both the expectation and the reality have one crucial common denominator, both arrows are ultimately heading the same direction.
In Summer 2020 I will attempt to cycle 1000 miles for Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke and you can follow my build up and progress on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TickerTour/
Onwards and upwards!
Old Stefano
The diagram at the beginning of this article just about sums it all up.
Life with Heart Disease really can be something of a mess at times but both the expectation and the reality have one crucial common denominator, both arrows are ultimately heading the same direction.
In Summer 2020 I will attempt to cycle 1000 miles for Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke and you can follow my build up and progress on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TickerTour/
Onwards and upwards!
Old Stefano
