During a famly ski trip in December, I developed altitude sickness and required oxygen for the remainder of our trip. When I returned home, I made an appt. with my cardiologist (female, by the way), on the suggestion of the medical doctor in Colorado. Several years ago, I learned I had mitral valve prolapse and a couple of years ago, I learned I had a leaky aortic valve. My cardiologist assumed I still had altitude sickness and prescribed diuretics. I have been on blood pressure medicine since the age of 30, even though I ran every day!! I have a strong family history of heart disease. After a few days on diuretics, I didn't feel well but played telephone tag (!) with the doctor's office, which I'm now learning is not that unusual for some of us who have heart disease. The cardiologist ordered a couple of tests, which were normal.( I called back in a few days, almost ashamed I was bothering anyone to find out the status of these tests) Still having pressure in my chest and extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, I called again. Still taking the diuretics. She told me I had a bad case of altitude sickness and it was taking me a while to get better. The doctor ordered a stress test. I had the test on a Friday. After almost passing out in church a couple of days later, I called the doctor and she recommended I have a stress test!. When I reminded her I just had a stress test Friday, she told me she would check her records and call me back in a couple of hours. That call never came. My family and friends were incredibly supportive of me. A niece, who is a nurse, and a close friend, who is in the medical profession, urged me not to give up!! That was crucial, because I felt like giving up! My friend took me to my family doctor, I hadn't visited him because I thought my cardiologist was ordering tests and it was best to keep everything simple. My family doctor told me the same thing I was thinking and that was to call the senior doctor in the cardiology practice and explain everything. Cardiologist #2 was my parents' doctor before their deaths of heart related events. The only reason I didn't visit him immediately was because I had a lot of memories associated with him because of losing my parents, but I knew him to be an excellent doctor. His nurse remembered me, and after talking with her on the telephone, made an appointment for the next morning. While talking with the doctor during my office visit, he suggested I have a catherization that morning!! He would recommend me that day to a pulmonary doctor to check my lungs, if cath. was normal. I didn't criticize the other doctor, except to explain what happened and we didn't discuss her again. I asked him to be my cardiologist. When I woke up from the catherization, I was being placed on an ambulance stretcher to take me to the top heart hospital in our area. My LDA was 90% blocked. The next morning, I had three stents to correct the blockages. The Lord used my doctor to truly save my life. My cardiologist did say it was unusual for the scan/stress test not to show up a blockage over 70%, but I think the lack of communication with Dr. #1, caused me to almost give up and not persist in finding answers! After a day or two in the hospital, I went home but returned with chest pressure in a few days. I had a blockage in the right coronary artery but my doctor assured me it usually didn't cause a problem. I had angioplasty to correct that. A few weeks later, I had pressure and discomfort again. A stent was placed in that artery. I've had another hospitalization for dehydration. Being sick for a while before being diagnosed and all the diurectics plus recovering from these hospitalizations, had left me with dehydration. I feel certain my doctor will address my leaky valves at the proper time and I have confidence in him because he continues to listen each time I bring up a concern. As I read all the stories today on the "Go Red" website, I thought it would be great to have a copy of all the stories to give our cardiologists for required reading. Our hearts and symptoms ARE different. It has taken me a long time to get my strength back and fully recover even though I've always been a very active person.