Danger Zone!!

WRONG! ALL WRONG!

My cardiologist took back to diagnosis after my needing to go back sooner due to increased discomfort. Several expensive tests later. No doctor has an answer for me.. Still waiting.

Sometimes you are the pigeon, sometimes you are the statue. Yesterday I was the statue.

I had my cardiologist appointment and upon crossing the street to leave my visit, a pigeon dumped on my jacket. You thought I was going to get deep on you didn't you? (TWSS)

Okay, well actually I was dealt a rather surprising card.

The visit to the heart doctor was about two hours, including medical history, subjective complaints from me, examination, ultrasound of my heart, and a stress test on a treadmill. I made sure I told them every pressure and oddity I felt in my chest, even if I sounded redundant, since.. ya know.. I would like to breath comfortably again.

Best parts of the exam.. getting big patches of my chest hair shaven off (it is really hot) and them ending the test on the treadmill (it's goal was to get my heart rate to 178..) after 18 minutes since I was in just such good shape, they said that was good enough. I wanted to keep going just to try to reach the goal. The incline was fun to do, but really shined a hot lamp on my lingering strains.

Most of the time they looked a little perplexed and said... this doesn't look cardiac.

I was thinking the same thing, just rule out that I have a heart issue, and send me to get a chest x-ray and a different specialist.

But, if that was the case, I wouldn't be making this post would I?

The doctor started examining the ultrasounds and informed me that I have...Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. My reaction:

And started me on a beta blocker.. for life... woohoo.

Of course, I was confused..How does this affect my breathing? And wth is this? After getting the information on it from the nurse, I realize this is that heart thing that is a leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes.. or for you runners out there.. when you realize you have a heart condition when you die mid race.

Strangely, I wasn't sad, I was in a good mood, relieved that they found this issue with my heart before... something bad happens. I have to follow up next week to get rechecked and see how my symptoms are going. I still feel like something different is bothering my breathing and this was just a lucky catch, but I will take it.

For a few hours, all I could think of was.. I was living in the....

Wait for it....

....

WHAT!!?

.....

Okay, all kidding aside, I am pretty lucky to find out I have this before something bad happened. I don't have a super serious case of this, which is good. I spent all evening thinking... I could die any step! I just need to make it to my first medication dose (this morning). My chest is still rather.. uncomfortable, but mentally, I feel more relaxed. We'll see if this is the root of my breathing issues.

And now I'm handling it the way I know best:

(P.S. I still haven't cleared up time to get on my blog reading.. maybe tonight??)