Medical Update

First of all, if you come here to the blog for politics, or humor or culture, PLEASE don't feel like you have to read this! I mean, this is life or death to me, and I'm bored with it! This just seems to be a handy forum for keeping my family and friends informed, without having to write all this down eight or ten times. Trust me. I don't HAVE any friends I like that much!

Had a visit with my GP today. It was an inauspicious start when the nurse tried five times with her machine and once with her stethoscope to take my blood pressure. I'm thinking that's how most of these zombie apocalypse movies start out:

"Doctor! That man over there! He has no pulse!!"

When the doc came in, he managed to find a BP, 90 over something, and another zombie apocalypse was averted!

Finished up the visit. There were a couple of sale items I wanted to grab from the supermarket down the street, so off I go.

Decided to call the doc back to go over one small detail, and ended up in my car sitting on hold for longer than I would have rested between errands. The significance of this in a moment.

I did not need to traverse the whole of the store to find what I needed. Still, I lost track of how many times I simply had to stop and rest my forehead on the shopping cart handle. And I physically sat down in the supermarket 3-4 times as well, pushing my cart, heavily laden (sarc) with 15 items or less.

To me, this is an indication that my condition, deteriorating since January, is still getting worse.

The good news: when I got home there was a voice mail to call April from the Heart Valve Clinic. I have an appointment for an interview and a CAT scan on Monday! 

"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”

And a tentative meeting with the heart surgeon next Thursday. This gives me at least a week to "baby proof" the house:

"What do you mean you can't pick it up? It's only ten pounds, you big baby!" 

There is light at the end of the tunnel. My GP said no sky diving or marathons, so I want to get that in writing before he changes his mind. On Thursday, I imagine we will be setting the date for the surgery, so as always, I'll keep you posted!  - Mike