Yesterday I was stuck in both arms; one for an IV, and the other for a line into my heart...

The back story is one that some of you may already know; I had a stress test 6 years ago based on my family upline male history. That stress test was interrupted due to a large abnormality, despite the many EKGs which had been taken due to my shoulder surgeries having been entirely normal. Stents were installed, and I went on a lifetime medication regime which totally altered my cholesterol readings. No ill effects noted, ever, and, suddenly, I was able to continue to breathe when I worked hard (my marker had been how little I could row, despite not being physically fatigued, without stopping to regain my breath).

Fast forward to the present, when I had an infection which I pursued courtesy of Medicare. The meds prescribed for that, we assume, had some negative side effects, because I was constantly tired. In addition, the work we’re now doing on the boat involved a couple of instances of nearly total depletion, heavy sweating, and shortness of breath. The doc recommended a stress test in any event, but as a good followup, now that there had been a lot of water under the keel, so to speak.

So, I did another stress test. The surface results were very good. Quick uptake on heart rate, no difficulty in maintaining it for quite a while, while it continued to climb (no breathing or strength issues; the tech said “Wow – you must be a runner!” – which I’m not, at all), and a quick recovery. However, the EKG suggested some anomaly, and my followup appointment was moved up by a couple of weeks.

The cardio guy wants to do a catheterization. That’s where they run a line into your artery and follow it to the heart, where they look around, and, if needed, as in the first case, resolve any problems.

The chief difference in last time to this one is that they now, if possible, go in through the arm, rather than carving a hole in my leg to get to the groin artery. No problem finding MY artery (the sticker said I could be a model for a phlebotomy class), and, a half-hour later, I was finished.

No problem found, including in my previous stents, and I was out of there before noon, as there was no waiting time for my excavation (in the groin) to heal/scab. While I didn’t get to talk to the cardio guy, and will have a followup appointment in a couple of weeks, the word was that he was very pleased, and there are no indications of the need for anything in my medications or activities to change.

So, all is well. While I can’t do anything more strenuous than picking up a mug of coffee for a couple of days with my right hand (the scab on my artery, if it were to fail, could bleed me out in a matter of minutes), we’re continuing to work on Flying Pig, where we’re VERY close to finished.

L8R

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