Kind of bittersweet seeing this thread pop up.
Saw a cardiologist back in ‘21 for what felt like unusual chest pain. Did the usual workup (stress test, ultrasound, blow flow study, lab work, etc.). Everything came back normal aside from slightly elevated BP and cholesterol, nothing alarming (and I have documented white coat syndrome). Doc said to lose some weight, which I did, and we dismissed the pains as likely musculoskeletal in nature. Reported it on my 8500 and never thought anything more of it.
FAA caught wind and asked for office notes. Sure, no problem, they told me I was fine. Got my copies from the cardiologist. He put “generalized atherosclerosis” in my file. Never said a word of it to me in his office. Sent them to the FAA, figuring they might ask me to do a few things, no big deal.
FAA sends a letter back, which I get 12/31. NYE. My birthday. “Send in your medical in 14 days or face enforcement action. Do all these tests. Give up your left nut. Maybe we’ll give your medical back in forever. Baiii.”
I call the cardiologist back in AZ that I saw in ‘21. He can’t back up the diagnosis. No tests were done to come to a conclusion of atherosclerosis, he can’t tell me where he got the diagnosis from, can’t explain why I wasn’t told jack shit about it. Awesome.
I schedule with a cardiologist here in Indiana, nearly a four month wait. We finally see him, super nice dude, down to earth. Does an EKG, “it’s as normal as it gets, this must all be hogwash.” Tells me to get this $49 CT scan to check my heart and such, and if it comes back clear we may be able to shorten this nightmare, so we do it.
Turns out I’m in the 100% percentile for calcium deposits. Meaning 100% of males my age have fewer deposits than I do. Freakin’ sweet! We run a nuclear stress test. Despite exceeding the FAA minimum for it, the imaging is abnormal. We do a cath. My LAD is blocked 80% and we likely caught it just in time to avoid a Widow Maker, took two stents to open it up.
Folks, I’m in my late 30’s. Not a marathon runner but not in awful shape, my diet could be better but again, better than most. Never smoked or drank in my life. I’m a statistical outlier.
Moral of the story: get yourself checked once in awhile. Some how, some way, God has a sick sense of humor and used the FAA’s draconian medical bull crap to save my life lol. Were I not a pilot, we may never have known and I would have just dropped dead one day, or gone to bed and never woke up (happened to a buddy of mine who just turned 50 in January of ‘22). It SUCKS having the FAA send that letter. 12/31/22 was the worse day of my life, right up until we got the cath and stents done and realized how close we came to me going to the Big Dark.
I know we pilots don’t want to see docs because it could spell the end. We moved about this time last year, specifically for a flying job. My career is on hold and just got a lot more complicated, but I’m still here to enjoy my family. Nobody hates the FAA Medical Certification Division more than I do, but listen to your body. What was dismissed back in ‘21 turned out to be a big deal, and had I just brushed those VERY early warning signs off, I might not be here today.
Anyway, on a happier note, I do have a commercial student now so for as long as he’s training, I can fly. Went up on Tuesday for the first time since December last year. Maybe this nightmare will be resolved before he’s done and I can resume my life as I once knew it lol.