“You need to see a heart surgeon” … part 4

Anje Craft
Nov 3 · 7 min read

post Kilimanjaro


The return from Kili

It’s now late March 2019 and after kind of recovering from climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, I return to training and netball but things just aren’t happening for me. I’m still having difficulty with my heart and things just don’t feel right. I’m getting exhausted easily and can’t make any progress with my fitness. The weight continues to pile on and it’s a constant struggle. I should’ve contacted Haris to let him know what happened on Kili but I didn’t bother. I knew I had another appointment with him in August so I just wait until then. I continue to battle along and try and make progress but to no avail. My heart rate is all over the place, at times it’s so low I’m not sure how I haven’t passed out, at other times it’s so high it’s crazy. I persevere for the next 5 months and just do what I can when I can. Sleeping was a priority as my body still needed heaps of it. My confidence starts a downward spiral.


Great Wall of China Marathon — April 2019

Steepness of the Great Wall

Before my heart issues started in October 2018, I’d arranged a 10 day private trip through China with 3 mates which included doing the Great Wall of China Marathon. It was always a tight turn around between getting home from Kili and leaving for China, about 3 weeks in fact. I was keen to do the full marathon which would’ve been my maiden marathon, however I just couldn’t get the required fitness up once my heart stuff began. I then settled to do the half marathon but couldn’t even get that in serious contention. In the end I did the 10km and that was more than I could handle at that time. I remember standing with my mates prior to the run starting, I wasn’t feeling good about doing the run and I was very nervous. I’d decided to take it pretty easy. The Great Wall was an incredible place to do a running event but it was also incredibly brutal. The terrain was horrendously steep, uneven and loose, and lined with thousands upon thousands of steps. It was almost impossible to run much of it except the downhill off the wall towards the finish line. I’d met a Chinese guy named Poon along the Great Wall and we stayed together for a lot of it. He was a seasoned runner and even he was struggling. Crossing the finish line was another high, not quite the high of summiting Kili, but another proud moment finishing something so challenging for me at the time given my physical state.


April to August 2019

These 5 months are full of ups and downs for me. Some days are great and I can do anything physical with no issues, other days I can’t even walk up a hill without experiencing heart difficulties. Turning up to play netball during the week was always a gamble whether I’d be able to make it through a full game or not. Don’t even get me started on Superleague (indoor representative netball). I never made it through a full game for the whole season. It would usually go something like a quarter on, quarter off, quarter on, quarter off if I was lucky. To be honest I really shouldn’t have been playing. I felt that I was letting my 2 teams down every time I stepped on the court. I just couldn’t physically do what was required for netball at that level and it was very frustrating to feel that way.

I’d planned to do the UTA 100 with a few mates in May (a 100km trail race through the beautiful Blue Mountains). Clearly that was never happening! I forcefully gifted my entry to my mate Deano and next minute I’m on a road trip to Sydney to support crew my 3 mates for the event. It was hard being there and not being able to participate, but I was so excited to see the boys (Deano, Gordo and Timmy) complete their first ever 100km trail race. I continue to do what I can when I can and make sure I’m getting whatever sleep my body needs. My confidence continues to plummet and frustration really shows during this period for me.


30August 2019 — Return to Haris

At now 15kgs heavier than prior to my heart issues, I go to my scheduled appointment with Haris. He is pretty proud of my achievement of making it to the top of Kili and gets me to send him through a few photos from the summit. He asks how I’ve been and I let him know things just aren’t right. I then tell him what happened on Kilimanjaro. His demeanour instantly changes. He gets pretty angry with me, stands up and leaves the room! I guess I was in a little bit of trouble. After a minute or so he returns and gives me a bit of a spray because I didn’t let him know earlier. He admits I’m his most loved and most hated patient. I guess that’s a compliment! He then says I’ll hear from the hospital regarding a bunch of ‘Haris special’ tests. I leave feeling like a naughty school kid who just copped the cane.


27 September 2019— stress ECG

I head back to Prince Charles hospital in Chermside for a stress ECG. I’d had a stress echo cardiogram in the past but not a stress ECG. I get in the room and am advised it’s the ‘Haris special’. He’d changed the standard treadmill test for my perceived level of fitness that was definitely no longer there. Whilst wired up to the ECG machine and a blood pressure monitor I start part 1 of 2 of the treadmill test, 3 phases of increase in incline and speed. I don’t make it to the end of part 1. I can’t breath, I’m overheating and I need to stop. The ECG machine is making all sorts of weird squiggly lines being printed onto paper. The test is over and I’m laying on a bed sucking in the big ones. Next minute Haris and his cronies unexpectedly appear in the room! After much discussion in and out of the room, I get hooked up to a monitor to wear over the weekend and told I’m having a heart MRI next week. They ask am I ok with that, I say no. I’m claustrophobic!

Get up for the stress ECG

There was brief talk of a pace maker again, which wasn’t the first time I’d be told that it could be on the cards. I said again that I didn’t want it because I’d no longer be able to continue my dream of doing the 7 summits. Every time I say this I think the hospital staff think I’m crazy, they don’t really get it. It was sounding like I wasn’t getting a choice with the pacemaker which I was just ignoring but it was sadly reality at that point in time.


Heart monitor from Friday to Monday

Over the weekend I wear another heart monitor. Did I mention that you can’t shower when you have one of these on! And sleeping with one of these things on is painful. I had a scheduled weights session with my mate Benny from the Shake Up early Saturday morning. It doesn’t even cross my mind not to go. I rock up and Benny was like ‘holy shit dude, are you ok train’?! Haha, yep I’m all good, I’ll stop if I have to. The visible wires stuck to my body did send some weird looks my way from passers-by, especially when I was lifting heavy weights. But when I finished the session my mind was so much clearer, it was exactly what I needed. The alternative of staying hidden at home and feeling sorry for myself didn’t sit well with me. When you focus on what you can do rather than what you can’t do, your whole perception changes.


30 September 2019 — Heart MRI

Monday morning I get a call from the MRI area of Prince Charles to advise I was having the heart MRI at 1pm that day and I couldn’t drive home. It’s not like the hospital is just up the road, it’s over an hour away! I get mum to pick me up from work and we head off to Chermside. Each trip costing me about $60 in tolls, parking and fuel. Not to mention the thousands of dollars spent on appointments, scans and tests etc. Being unhealthy is expensive! I head back to the Cardiac Investigations Unit to get the halter removed, then walk 20 meters down the hall to prepare for the heart MRI.

I’m given some sort of sedative to help me cope with being in the MRI machine and a catheter inserted in my right arm. The MRI takes about an hour. Hundreds of images are taken, with each image requiring me to breath in and hold my breath for 8 to 10 seconds. They then inject some sort of dye in my system and take a bunch more images. I’ve got my eyes closed for the entire time and am trying to remain calm by focusing on deep controlled breaths. Being in a confined space for an hour with loud noises sucks. Mum comes to collect me and drives me home. My car is a manual and she has an automatic so that was a fun drive home, thank God I’m still alive to tell this story haha. I have the next day off work, sleeping pretty much for the whole day. I’m now awaiting Haris to call me in with all the results. For someone who isn’t really an anxious person, it’s an anxious time for me.

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