When I went to see the Nurse Practitioner a couple of months ago because I get so very tired--think I wrote about it in an earlier post--she suggested I go to see a cardiologist and gave me a referral. As is usual nowadays, I didn't actually "see" the cardiologist yet, I have to go through several tests beforehand. I suppose that minimizes the time that the cardiologist actually has to spend with a patient, less expensive, etc.
Anyway, I had an electrocardiogram a a few weeks ago and the cardiologist's nurse practitioner said there was a small "something"--to do with heart impulse voltage, something like that--that suggested to her I should have an echocardiogram and a stress test before I see said cardiologist. In case anyone isn't familiar with heart procedures, the electrocardiogram is kind of like a lie detector type test that just graphs heartbeats but the echocardiogram is, well, Wikipedia explains it well:
"An echocardiography, also known as a cardiac echography (abbreviated to cardiac echo or simply an echo), is an ultrasound of the heart. It is a type of medical imaging of the heart, using standard ultrasound or Doppler ultrasound. The visual image formed using this technique is called an echocardiogram."
I am lucky to have insurance that covers all but $40 of this procedure because, truly, lying there and watching my heart beating on a machine filled me with a kind of awe. This is the technology that shows how our hearts are performing. This technology could have saved my grandfather, perhaps could have saved my mother as well. I was pregnant in the very early days of ultrasounds to measure babies in the womb so I only had one ultrasound when I was pregnant, only because the doctor was concerned about Laurie's size through palpating and decided an ultrasound "could" be administered. The screen was grainy and I could barely recognize her but, still, that too was a miracle. A miracle that has gone on to be used almost routinely in the past 40 years.
I don't think I have anything seriously wrong with my heart but I feel that I am getting the best knowledge I know of about how my body IS working. Blood test tomorrow morning, routine annual test. Cardio stress test in two weeks. Cataract surgeries two Mondays in August. This past month and next month will see me have more medical procedures than I have ever had before, except for my pregnancy 40-something years ago (although I didn't really see the doc that often back then) and the time I had all of the prep stuff happening re my hysterectomy surgery twelve years ago. As I negotiated with the doctor's offices for when I could schedule appointments and tests--no, I have cataract surgery those two weeks, no, I promised I would substitute teach those days and the school depends on me, yes I can come in right now....--I have an appreciation for people whose lives revolve around doctor's appointments. I celebrate the advances that have enabled so many of my friends and relatives to live longer, live more comfortably.
And, today, I promise I won't take my own "duty to do the best for my body, to the best of my financial and physical ability" seriously. Just have to gird myself for that battle with the sugar demon....
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