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Heart smart: what felt like indigestion turned into a life-saving wake-up call for a Venice retiree.

Article Excerpt
When your own heart turns against you, what can you do? David Hunihan never thought he would have to answer that question.

It was 2008, a few weeks before Christmas. Hunihan, then 73, was enjoying his retirement years in Venice with his wife, Virginia (aka "Gail"). An inch shy of six feet, Hunihan weighed in at just 170 pounds. His cholesterol and blood pressure were just what the doctor ordered. He played a vigorous game of golf three times a week, was crazy about his children and grandchildren and devoted to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Church in Venice. And his family and friends loved him. "He's just a guy with a big heart," is how several describe him. But despite his seeming vitality, that heart was anything but healthy.

One day he felt a ripple of pain in his chest. Heartburn, he thought. What else could it be? But his chest kept hurting, so just to be safe, he called his doctor and made an appointment.

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His doctor prescribed heartburn medicine but told him to return if the discomfort persisted. After three days, the chest pain remained. His doctor suggested he see a cardiologist, Dr. William Corin, and undergo a nuclear cardiac stress test.

Hunihan took the test. And failed it--miserably.

Corin told him the stress test showed that Hunihan's pain was angina, not heartburn. Still, he felt healthy. How bad could it be?

Very bad. If you think of the heart as a pump, the nuclear stress test reveals how hard it has to work. After injecting a small amount of radioactive fluid into the bloodstream, the physician can use...

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