Things appeared to be going ok, the anti inflammatory drugs and the pain killers appeared to be working and I got on with my life after being discharged from hospital on the 4th July.

I had an appointment with occupation health at work on Monday 6th and it went really well. After months of uncertainty and questions about whether I could go back to my job it directly managing social workers and children’s cases – it was a yes. I was so excited.

On the 8th July – things in our household took a turn for the worst when I ended up taking my husband into A&E with a temperature of 40 and right sided abdominal pain. Yes. Appendicitis. In the early hours of Thursday morning he had his septic appendix removed. He was discharged on Saturday morning.

On the Sunday 12th July, just after the shops shut, I started to experience the should, arm and back pain again. It was not nice and very uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that after taking paracetamol and dihydrocodeine didn’t work, I found myself calling 111 to see if there were any late night pharmacies or out of hours GP appointments.

Guess what…. 111 called me an ambulance because of my cardiac history.

So I found myself in A&E. Again.

I found my troponin being tested. Again.

I found myself in the coronary care unit after having raised troponin. Again.

I spent Sunday – Wednesday afternoon being told that I still have pericarditis but that they wanted to do a CT of my coronary arteries (CTCA) rather than undertake what would be my third invasive angiogram.

On Thursday 16th, after seeing the consultant on duty for that week, I was discharged. They had said my arteries looked the same as they did in the CTCA done in December 2019 and that they weren’t concerned about my arteries. They reviewed my medication, took me off my anti-angina med and changed my beta blocker.

My discharge summary said peri/myocarditis and that I was fit and well to return to work.

And that was the plan…. until 3 days later.

BHF explanation of a CTCA – https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/medical/tests/imaging-techniques/ct-scans-of-the-heart