D: It sounds like that you're experiencing some chest pain.

P: Yeah, so this chest pain has just been coming on for the last couple of weeks now.

D: OK, uhm. So 2 weeks, and can you tell me kind of where you're feeling that pain? 

P: Um yeah, I'm I'm just feeling this chest discomfort, sort of over on the left side.

D: The left side, OK. Does does it stay just in one spot or does it kind of spread anywhere else?

P: No, I don't really feel it anywhere else. Yeah, I just feel it in that one spot on the left side. 

D: OK, does it feel dull and achy, or does it feel more sharp?

P: It feels pretty sharp. 

D: OK, and is it constant like on all the time, or do you feel like it kind of comes and goes? 

P: It comes and goes. I would say I it might last for um 20-30 minutes at a time and then it goes away.

D: OK, and over the last two weeks since you said it started, has it gotten any worse?

P: Uh, no. It's been about the same.

D: About the same, OK, and has it gotten more frequent, these like 20 to 30 minute episodes?

P: No, it's happened about two or three times during the 2 weeks.

D: And if you were to rate it on a scale of zero to 10, zero being no pain and 10 being like the worst pain you've ever felt, where would it fall?

P: I would say a 4 out of 10. 

D: OK. Uh, can you think of anything that that you've done differently recently that could have brought it on or is there any kind of common factor between the times that you had the pain?

P: Um,  I don't know I've separated from my husband 2 two years ago which has been really stressful but other than that I mean I can't really think of any changes to my health or anything like that recently.

D: OK, but do you feel like you have been more stressed out in general?

P: Uh, yeah the last couple of years have been a lot more stressful because of those issues in my personal life.

D: OK, I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad that you're coming in and we can hopefully get to the bottom of this. Not that I think that's necessarily the source of your pain, and we definitely want to look into everything, but it is really helpful to know that. So when you've had these episodes, have you taken anything to help with the pain or done anything that's that you felt it made it go away?

P: Uhm, I've tried some Advil, some Tylenol and actually some Tums as well, and it hasn't really helped.

D: OK, do you think it's worse when you're moving around, if you're if you're kind of doing more exercise, or is it kind of just the same no matter what you're doing when you get the episodes?

P: Oh, it actually I I feel like it happens most of the time when I'm either at work or or driving. 

D: OK. OK, and before this two week period, have you ever had anything like this before?

P: No, I haven't had anything like this happen before.

D: Do you have any chronic conditions that you see your family doctor for?

P: No, previously healthy.

D: And just jumping back to these pain episodes when you have them, do you experience anything else? Do you get any nausea or vomiting?

P: No. 

D: OK, do you get any, do you have any difficulty breathing during these times?

P: No, I haven't. 

D: OK, and have you noticed any fevers?

P: Uh, no, no fevers.

D: OK, have you been in contact with anyone that's been sick recently?

P: Uhm, no, I haven't.

D: And have you traveled anywhere outside of Canada?

P: No, I've been home.

D: OK so you have, you said you have been previously healthy, nothing that you've been seeing your family doctor for on a regular basis. Do you take any medications?

P: Uhm, I do not, no medications, just the Tylenol and Advil I tried for the pain.

D: OK, do you have any allergies?

P: No allergies.

D: And is there any history of heart problems in your family?

P: Yeah, my father had a heart attack when he was 60 just last year and it's actually one of the reasons what concerns me about the chest pain that I thought I was having.

D: For sure, it always feels very concerning when when you have these these symptoms and that and you know people in your life that have had issues like similar issues in the past. I don't know that this is related to that. I I personally don't think so at this point, but we're definitely going to do everything to look into it and and rule out something that would be scary like that. I'm going to ask you few more questions about your lifestyle in general. Do you smoke cigarettes?

P: Yeah, I smoke about half a pack to a pack per day. I've been trying to quit and I was smoking more one pack per day, but so it is down a little bit, but, It's still something I'm trying to work on.

D: Congratulations, that's a really tough thing to do so, good for you. That's that's really exciting. Step in the right direction, right? Do you drink alcohol?

P: Um, I do, but, uh, I'll have maybe one or two glasses of wine on the weekend.

D: Do you use any other substances? 

P: Uh no.

D: I know that you said you don't see your family doctor for anything regularly, but I just want to check a couple of specific things like have you ever been told you have high blood pressure?

P: No, I've never been told I've I've had high blood pressure.

D: And have you ever been told you have like high cholesterol?

P: I haven't, but I've actually never been tested either.

D: OK, and do you exercise regularly?

P: Yeah, actually, I'll either do some running or cycling, probably three or four days per week and I haven't had any chest pain or or problems exercising.

D: OK, that's good to hear. And have you ever had problems with heartburn? 

P: Uh. I don't think so, no.

D: OK. OK, so just to kind of summarize what we've talked about, over the last two weeks, you started having these 20 to 30 minute episodes of chest pain that's on the left side, it feels more sharp, is that correct? 

P: Yeah.

D: And it's kind of constant when it comes on, there's nothing really that makes it better or worse, it just kind of goes away on its own after half an hour or so, it has kind of stayed the same over over the last two weeks, hasn't really gotten worse or better, it hasn't gone away either? 

P: Right, yeah exactly.

D: You never had anything like that before and you have been, it sounds like experiencing some stress in your life, it definitely can play into that as well. OK, is there anything else that you wanted to to tell me about that I didn't ask you today?

P: Uh, no, I think that's um, yeah, I think that's all that I wanted to talk about today.

D: OK, so what I'm going to do is bring all this information to your family doctor and we can come back together and talk to you about the next steps.

P: Awesome, thank you.

D: Thanks for coming in.