It's My ❤️

As soon as my call with Dr. Dorscheid was done, I hung up and burst out bawling. I was so incredibly relieved by all he had to say. He has, however, lessened my confidence in Dr. Chen, who said that he thought my problem was my lungs. Dr. Dorscheid is 100% certain I had a “silent” heart attack in June.

Dr. D., of course, has access to my medical records, and he could see that Jennnifer Lewis, my nurse practitioner, had ordered a blood test that looks for protein markers in the blood that indicate a heart attack, and mine were FIVE TIMES higher than they should have been.

He's writing to Jennifer to urge her to have Dr. Chen do the echocardiogram and the myocardial profusion tests sooner than the end of January. He think’s I’m walking around a ticking time bomb.

I do not have COPD! That is excellent news. And my lungs are in great shape considering that I have asthma. 

Now I know it’s my heart that’s the problem. And the good thing about that, is that my problem is most likely correctible. A stent, a valve, an adaptation to my pacemaker … there are options for correction. June’s event, was my fourth mild heart attack—my first such attack since getting my pacemaker.

Now I wait for my echocardiogram (Jan. 27) and profusion scans (Feb. 5 and 6). I have several more months with limited energy before I can hope for any news about correction possibilities. 

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It’s wet, wet, wet out there. I’m not certain that Her Highness and I will walk with our friends this morning. It will be a slow, slow day of reading for me today. I’m still in a kind of shock about my heart. I want to just chill today and celebrate that my problem is not my lungs.