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Mr. Luddite

On 3/24/2017 1:56 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 24 Mar 2017 13:17:00 -0400, Keyser Soze
wrote:

On 3/24/17 12:58 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 24 Mar 2017 10:55:40 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

I had a routine stress test done a few years ago and the
hospital charged the insurance company $14,000. Made me start thinking
about it.

My nuclear
stress test a few years ago was $4700.

I guess this was a more involved test than what I got.
They just had me hooked up to an EKG and had me go up and down a
little step box, right there in the office with the little blonde girl
who works for doc running the machine. It was just part of a wellness
physical.
It was essentially the same as the one I did at Georgetown in 1961-2
when they thought I had a heart murmur. (I was in a study)
I wish I had the tape from my test at 13 to compare to me at 70.

Mine was a colossal pain in the ass. First, I was injected with isotopes
and sat on a torture chair while some sort of radiation reading camera
whirled slowly around me. Then I was up on a treadmill until I was ready
to pass out, died, or completed the test. Then I rested for 30 minutes
and was back up on the chair with the whirling camera. To increase my
anxiety during the treadmill portion, the doc told me ( I was looking
out the window) that he was sure my mother in law was walking down the
medical campus.

I guess they think you have more heart problems than me. Mine was just
an expansion of the normal Medicare wellness exam. I end up getting 2
every year. My doc does a better exam than the minimal "house call"
UHC requires. That is some woman who is really incompetent.

The nuclear stress test that Harry and I described identifies blockages
or the beginning of blockages that can cause a sudden and silent heart
attack. You are also connected to an EKG during the test to see how the
old ticker is firing under a heavy (stress) load. The treadmill speed
and incline is slowing increased until you are forced to call it quits.
The test you described really says your heart is firing normally under
a minor load but doesn't tell you anything about potential blockages.