OK, it has been a little over 6 1/2 years since my open-heart surgery! And, here is the latest:
1 - Overall, at age 64, I'm feeling pretty good. I seem to be able to do what a grand pa should do!
2 - My visit to the cardiologist was good, liked the blood work, blood pressure good, and in pretty good shape at 5'9" and 183 pounds (trying to get down to 175!)
3 - Told the doctor, the only concern I had was walking up hills or a lot of steps. So, the doctor suggested a Echo Stress Test, which is:
How does Stress Echo work? Patients with coronary artery blockages may have minimal or no symptoms during rest. However, symptoms and signs of heart disease may be unmasked by exposing the heart to the stress of exercise. During exercise, healthy coronary arteries dilate (develop a more open channel) than an artery with a blockage. This unequal dilation causes more blood to be delivered to heart muscle supplied by the normal artery. In contrast, narrowed arteries end up supplying reduced flow to it's area of distribution. This reduced flow causes the involved muscle to "starve" during exercise. The "starvation" may produce symptoms (like chest discomfort or inappropriate shortness of breath), EKG abnormalities and reduced movement of the heart muscle. The latter can be recognized by examining the movement of the walls of the left ventricle (the major pumping chamber of the heart) by Echocardiography.
This will be interesting. After 6 1/2 years, this should let me know how I am doing. So, as any test, the name itself, "Echo Stress Test" is STRESS! I still think that any test you take should NOT have the word STESS in it!
More to come!
