Heart Attack Support Group

Hello fellow heart patients,

In jan 2006 when I was 34 years old I had a "widowmaker" , 100 percent blockage of the left ascending coronary artery. this left me
with 50 percent damage to my LV that ventually decreased to 40 percent permanent damage. My ef was between 20 and 25 percent and I was told that I had about 5 years left.

I misunderstood my docs and attacked my rehab thinking that i would improve my ef and maybe get some of my heart back. by one month i
was jogging 1 mile, then at 2 months i was jogging 2 miles every day. it wasnt easy, by a mile and a half my o2 was down to 88 - i
just never told anyone and kept trying. by 6 months after my heart attack i had lost 90 lbs and was feeling a little better.

Then my heart doc noticed i had clouding on the lower half of my right lung and it also showed up on the x-ray on the day of my MI.
They ended finding a giant carcinoid tumor that had taken over the whole space the right middle lung used to take. they removed it and
thankfully was totally benign. but after that i was a wreck getting hit with several anxiety attacks a day. I still kept working 45 - 50
hours a week but it was getting very difficult. I quite exercising
and gained 50 lbs back I didnt want to die but figured it would be better than living like this. no hope and a reletivly short, sucky
life.

In august 2007 i was searching the internet and came across theravitae with these bs claims that they might at least make you
feel better. so reading all the other patients stories it looked like bs to me so i quite reading. i kept going back to it every
couple of days anyway and then i noticed that one of the doctors endorsing this was a dr barbara czerska - head of heart failure for
henry ford detroit. Well i go to henry ford so i got her to see me and then she explained that yes at the very least i will feel better
and that it wont cure me but i will get some tissue growth and a lot of new capillaries in my heart which would make it even more
efficient and make my life a little better.

I called the company and my doc sent of my test results, by this time my ef was up to 30 - 35 percent, and my metobolic stress test
showed i could do 8mets and a vo2 of 28. they say thats very good for a class 3. of course when you cant do anything and you feel like
crap all the time it is of little comfort.

I was accepted by the company and became one of 201 people from the US to go through this.

(keep in mind that my initial progress is somewhat atypical) three days after the stem cells the heart area started getting these stabbing pains that would last for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. the most notible change was after my father and i would get back to the hotel and i would check my pressure and heart rate. before my HR was 110 BPM and it would take about 1/2 hour to stop sweating, three days after - 85 BPM and my skin would be dry in 5 minutes!

1 1/2 weeks after i had an echo done and the completly dead apex was beating again - verrrrry weakly but it was moving.

2 months after my stress test showed 10.1 mets and a vo2 of 32 using the "bruce" protocall.

I was very tired but little by little thing i didnt do anymore i was doing again.

3 months after i jogged 3 miles and my o2 was between 92 and 95!

now 6 months later. I am now working 7 days a week again, i have had all my restrictions lifted. I am doing 80 push-ups, 30 dips, and 30 crunches a day to try and build my upper body back up. i can at max resistance ride my recumbant bike for 1 hour at 15 MPH.

my sidewalls are now beating normally, my septum went from 100% damage to 30% damage and the other two dead apex areas are at 60
percent damage.

So anyway there is my story.

If anyone has any questions i can be reached at 248-227-3016.

Have a good day

James Eilert
Posted on 05/29/08, 02:05 pm