Follow the Heart
Oncologists and researchers increasingly focus on how to predict, treat and monitor for cardiovascular problems that develop before and after treatment.
PETER WOLF FIRST NOTICED an unusual sound in his chest in the spring of 2018. When he inhaled, especially after he exercised, he heard a distinct “gurgling”—like air pushing through fluids. It wasn’t painful, but it was accompanied by an uncomfortable shortness of breath, and it usually went away overnight.
Initially, Wolf, then 39 and a father of three young children, wasn’t too concerned. However, as months turned to years, the symptoms became more frequent and lasted longer. The fluid seemed to stay in his lungs for a full day, sometimes longer, and he continued to have shortness of breath. He used a pulse oximeter to measure the oxygen saturation of his blood and discovered that, during these episodes, his blood oxygen level dropped to the low 90s and sometimes into the 80s. A healthy person’s blood oxygen level should register between 95% and 100%. At 90%, physicians recommend people go to the emergency department to get checked for heart problems.
Wolf, who lives in Orlando, Florida, consulted with his primary care physician, who went through a list of possible causes. His doctor didn’t think it was related to exercise because it had come on so suddenly and didn’t return during stress tests. He didn’t think it was asthma because it wasn’t helped by an inhaler. The concerned physician sent Wolf to a pulmonologist and a cardiologist. His electrocardiogram (EKG) looked normal, and X-rays showed no signs of pneumonia.
When Wolf turned 40 in August 2018, the providers were still unable to find a cause for the strange sounds. “These were symptoms that normally aren’t associated with anybody my age,” Wolf says. In the spring of 2020, when COVID-19 was upending everything, he still had no diagnosis and resigned himself to living with the gurgling and shortness of breath.