CAC to CABG in 3 months

Hello, all heart people. I have been here since February of this year while going through my journey. As I have read people’s questions and the responses they get, it is important to remember that everyone’s path is unique. The calcium score is just one point of data. I have read many comments that people should not worry about one score or another because that person had a high score and they were fine. I thought it would be good to tell my story.
I am a 50-year-old male that was exercising 5+ times per week and of normal weight and eating relatively healthy. In February of this year I was seeing a gastroenterologist who ordered a bunch of scans. One of the scans was an abdominal CT scan. In that scan there was an incidental finding of calcium near the heart. That triggered my GP to order a CAC scan. I got same-day results of 801. The breakdown, which will be important later, was:

Left main: 0
Left anterior descending artery: 550
Circumflex artery: 122
Right coronary artery: 129
Posterior descending artery: 0
Other: 0

Based on this and some other tests for my kidneys, I made a request for appointments at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. I was scheduled 3 months away in May. In between Feb and May, I became hypersensitive about my heart, having NO previous symptoms or issues. In March I ended up at urgent care because I was/they were concerned about some BP and HR issues. I had an ECG that was normal, was placed on a 7-day HR monitor that was normal, and had a Stress Echo that was NOT normal. The echo showed some abnormalities during exercise, but all related to the LAD or left side of the heart. I also had a little bit of chest tightness during the test. I met with a local cardiologist and was told the next step was an Angio- I deferred to wait for the Mayo.

I started my appointments at the Mayo in early May. During my first week I had a bunch of other appointments and ended up having 2 different ECGs, one scheduled and one urgent because of a blood test result, both completely normal. In week 2, on May 12th, I met with the Mayo cardiology team; based on family history, CAC score, stress echo, and normal ECG results, the next step would be an angiogram. I felt like the assumption from both the local cardiologist and the Mayo team was something would be found in the LAD and could be fixed with a stent.

On May 13th I had the angiogram. It only lasted 40 min, and all 3 cardiologists were surprised by what they found. At that moment they described it as a significant disease. All three doctors came in to review the results. They had found a significant number of blockages, and before I even left the angiogram procedure room, they had scheduled me for open heart surgery the following Monday. This is what they found.

Left Main—1 blockage at 40%
LAD—4 different blockages
1 at 40%
1 at 50%
2 at 80%
Circumflex - 1 blockage at 80%
Right Coronary—3 different blockages
2 at 80%
1 at 70%

Based on these findings, I had a quadruple bypass surgery on May 21. As you can see, the CAC scan did not really align with the angiogram, and I had significantly more blockages.

For the first 5 weeks I struggled with low blood pressure to the point of full blackouts. I was readmitted, and they adjusted my meds. Things have improved since then.
Again, the reason for sharing is to show that everyone’s journey is different.