My Experience

I showed up, they weighed me and took my vital signs: blood pressure, pulse, etc. The nurse took my BP three times, then asked the cardiologist to do it because she could not find the measurement she was looking for.

They told me they were going to take X-rays of my heart with radioactive dye in it to ascertain the workings of the mechanism. I would then be subjected to an increasing load on my heart through walking on a treadmill at an increasing incline and revolution rate to see how my heart reacted to higher physical activity. They would take X-rays at the middle, then at the end, then after resting for several minutes.

The treadmill was okay, though I actually found myself surprisingly winded after 8 minutes of a brisk pace.

Afterwards, I was winded for a few minutes, then I was basically fine. I drank a glass of water, and they said the dye would work its way out “just like you’d think” by the end of the day. I was called a few days later with the results, which indicated that my heart was fine and that I most likely had a strained intercostal muscle in my chest/ribcage area.