Just before midnight, I felt fast squeeze on my heart while I was brushing my teeth standing up. I thought I was having a heart attack.

Yesterday (2.8.2021) morning I noticed my face is a bit red I thought I ate something that triggered bad skin on my face. Usually, my skin would clear if I drink lots of water. So I drank 3 litres of water. I was at my mum’s office from 11am till  7pm. I felt very hungry when I got home. My (heavy) brunch was at 11am. We had dinner at 8pm.

Brushing my teeth

At 11.40pm, while brushing my teeth standing up I felt a fast squeeze on my heart one after another. They were very painful and lasted for 10 seconds.

I quickly went to grab my mum’s oximeter to check my heart rate, it was 70bpm. Then I told my mom about my heart episodes.

Called NHS 111

Presently, I have irregular heartbeat and a leaking valve. My mum called 111 NHS helpline to ask for advice. The lady over phone asked my mum to feel and check my tummy if it was cold or warm. Then check if I have swollen feet. I did not have swollen feet but my feet was cold from ankle down. The rest of my body was warm.

Then the 111 staff asked to check my arms for the same thing. I did not have swollen arms. My mom noticed both of my knees have red patches skin and also on my arms and legs, they looked like eczema start appearing. On top of that my mum noticed my face was red and feel hot, but my nose and area around my lip looked green-ish.

The 111 lady then put my mum on hold, we waited a minute or two. The lady then said a doctor will call my mum back.

Second series of fast squeeze on my heart episodes

After my mum ended the 111 call, she asked me to stand up so she can check my body properly.  Earlier I was sitting on my bed while she was following the 111 lady’s instructions to assess me.

At 12.17am, while standing up I felt a fast squeeze on my heart 4 times within the space of 1 minute (12.18am the last one).

Then at 12.22am one more fast squeeze  episode on my heart. This time the pain was shorter. I was sitting on my bed at this time.

Total of 7 fast squeeze episodes on my heart from 11.40pm to 12.22am.

My last medical review at GOSH was in September 2020, my cardiologists are waiting for the specialist surgeon who performed my last heart surgery input whether to redo the heart surgery to fix my irregular heartbeat with an electric shock.

A Clinician called back

A clinician called back at 1.50am. My mum spent 25 minutes to tell the doctor my medical history because the doctor was unable to access my  GOSH medical file online.

Then the doctor said he would discuss my situation with his colleague and give him about 10 minutes then he would call back again.

The doctor called back at 2.18am suggesting to take me to a local hospital to run some tests. Then the doctor said he would call the ambulance from his end and called back again.

At 2.30am, the doctor said the ambulance will be at my home in 30 minutes. I was sleeping at the point, my mum woke me up to get ready for the Ambulance.

Ambulance arrived & paramedics assessments

My mum saw the ambulance vehicle parked downstairs and a paramedic buzzed to come in to our building.We locked the door and went downstairs and bumped into the paramedics at second floor. We agreed to run the tests in the ambulance vehicle. It was about 3am.

My mum was looking for my GOSH last review reports at home earlier but she could not find it then she remembered the hospital app has copies of most recent hospital review letters. When the paramedics asked my mum about my medical history, she showed my last heart assessment report done by GOSH in the app. The paramedics took a picture of it. It was a long report.

While one paramedic did the data entry into their system, the other paramedic put wires on me to take my Heart rhythm, temperature and blood pressures. The paramedic asked my mum if she has a copy of my ECG report by any chance so that he could compare the result. Luckily, my mum had one for the paramedic to compare.

Then they told my mum which hospital they would be sending me to. They explained different hospitals in London have different expertise and they are sending me to St Thomas because that hospital has cardiologists and the paramedics send casualties with heart problems there for emergency treatments.

St Thomas Hospital

One of the paramedics was so kind, he walked us into children emergency ward, asked to wait at the sitting area while he hands over my details to the night reception nurse.

A cardiac nurse then called me into a room to take my blood pressure, weight and the ECG again.  Then she asked us to wait for a cardiac doctor on duty to see me.

A doctor in red uniform

Soon after that, a doctor in red uniform called me and my mum into a consultation room. The doctor asked my mum lots of questions about my medical history. My mum showed the letter from the GOSH app to the doctor.

Because the reports are very long the doctor asked to screenshot the reports and whatapps to her so she can read it using her phone and show it to a senior doctor.

At 5.50am, the doctor came back into our room to let us know that she has contacted GOSH and the doctor at GOSH just needs to read my records then advise accordingly. They want to make sure I’m safe to go home.

At 6.47am, the doctor came to say we can go home and The GOSH doctor is trying to arrange to bring forward my next routine appointment to this month. At this stage both the doctors at GOSH and St Thomas are not sure what caused the chest pain. They said it could be the lung not the heart. It may not be the irregular heartbeat either. In any case, if the similar heart pain episodes occur, I have to go back to the hospital.

Discharge from Hospital

We walked out of the hospital at 6.50am. No car and hardly anyone on the street. First thing came to mind was I need some breakfast. My mum was very tired, she did not sleep whole night. I suggested to my mum, we go to McDonald’s for breakfast. There was no McDonald’s nearby St Thomas Hospital so we walked across the bridge toward Buckingham Palace headed to Leicester Square for Breakfast. We then head home, shower and sleep.

In the Afternoon

My mum called GOSH to tell my cardiologist of what happened last night. My cardiologist is aware of my heart pain episodes from the report from St Thomas this morning and asked his nurse to arrange my appointment to be sooner unfortunately they are fully booked and will contact my mum on Thursday again.