WendyCo cardiologist visit

[wendyco]

Cardiologist Visit

Saw Dr. Fenster yesterday after a long drive down, traffic was bad in Fort Collins due to several accidents….Char is such a trooper, she was tired and just keeps smiling the whole time….

After all the testing things are still uncertain….apparently my heart enlarged after the stress test and this can show blockage. BUT females have a better chance of their heart enlarging after exercise just because…..so I will have a heart catheration done is a few weeks…during this they will see if I have any blockages but will also be able to take pictures and pressure to see if either side of my heart is larger or working harder etc…
If they find problems they will be fixed at the same time, unless something unexpected shows up…..
So more adventure ahead….
Coming home we had terrible rains followed by sun followed by rain and I ran out’ve 02, go figure!

[Blossom/Jackie W.]

Hey Zoom; thanks for letting us know the latest. Any idea why the heart enlargement situation is more prominent with females?

Also; did he give you any kinda feeling about how any of this might affect your program(s) acceptance chances?

(Sorry; I don't intend to be this forthright per se) but I think that folks might be asking the same thing)

Hey Lady; TY for posting this stuff casue I know at times it's a challenge, and, we appreciate it.

[wendyco]

hey ww, I know I didn't say too much this time but

sometimes I think I get so many test done that I'm not sure why I'm doing what I'm doing
I told this wonderful (and cute) cardiologist that the pulmo doc's were waiting for him to decide if I could have the LVRS....wow, he almost choked ......the bottom line, once/if my heart is okay and my veins cleaned out I should be okay at least as far as the heart doc is concerned.............(now my normal pulmo that I love and have been seeing all this time is not so sure I'm a good candidate at all! she's concerned that I could die during the surgery due to low diffusion rate) lots to think about.......but right now it's the heart and we will go from there.......

I think there is more but that's all I can think of now, you know how the brain can zoom as much as I do hehehehehe

[susanny]

Wendy, could you please explain what a low diffusion rate means?

Thanks, Sue

[wendyco]

sorry Susanny just saw this question...I promise to come back later and address you question, still a little groggy

the latest

July 22nd adventure

This was the heart catheterizing to see if I had any blockages and to take pictures and measure pressure to see what was what in there….
Had to be in Denver to check into hospital at 6:00am, which meant, leaving here at 4:30am…so needless to say little if any sleep that night…..

They hooked me up and got me all ready and about 8:00 the Doc came in and talked to me, after which they took me to the cath room……Char and Jen were both there and Janet got the job of watching all the little ones….So I wasn’t worried about much cause everything was being taken care of…..

The procedure itself was a breeze although I was apprehensive. They gave me a sedative but I was totally conscious during everything so we would chat a bit….no pain to those needing this too……

Doc found my heart to be good! I have blockage but only 40%.....guess it has to be 90% before anyone gets concerned (something I never knew before) and the rest of the heart looked good and was working fine…..

After a few days of taking it easy and not lifting etc I will be back to normal….they put a fancy “plug” in and it takes 90 days to fully dissolve………

Next will be visit the cardiologist again and then the Nat Jew docs for hopefully a verdict

[toni]

Way to go Wendy! Looks like everything is falling into place for you... ;D

[Blossom/Jackie W.]

WoooooooHoooooooooooo! WTG Lady! I KNOW you were nervous BUT dang; what an outcome for you! Now; take that back your specialist!

[roadtrip]

Looks like you are testing well wendy. Congrats. I know my Pulmo and surgeons have a hard time perfoming any kind of surgery if my diffusion capacity (DLCO) is less than 70%. Diffusion capacity is the extent to which oxygen passes from the air sacs of the lungs into the blood. It oxygenates the blood. If it is too low they have a real problem doing surgery because they don't think you can regain proper oxygenation after you come off all the ventilation support during surgery.

Hope that makes sense. You can Google DLCO. Good luck.
4

[bobbioh]

GREAT NEWS Congrats!!! BOBBI

[aero63]

Awesome News. So glad to hear it went well.

[susanny]

Three cheers: Hip Hip Hooray!! and way to go, for good measure!

[maryaz]

Since I happen to log on here tonight, I wanted to stop by this part and tell you, Wendy, I wish you well. Things are looking good for you. I hope it all ends up great for you.

[mary57]

Wendy, Just caught up with your testing, it looks good, though you had to go through a bit of 'extras' it turned out good. WTG

[muffin]

Wendy, what is your difussion rate. Many people with copd going for lvrs have close to 20% which is the cutoff. I would be a little concerned if mine were close to that number.

[wendyco]

yep Muffin I'm concerned that's my regular Pulmo's concern too.......over the years we never could get a true reading no matter how hard I tried....my numbers went from 4 to 8 yep that is 4 and 8 period........we knew that wasn't accurate but didn't know what it might really be...................at national Jewish they say they got one at 23 then at 28......I do know there is a higher risk of death during the procedure if your dlco is too low

[muffin]

When it gets to low they are leary of Resperatory Failure. I know several have had it done that are in the 20's, I think each individual dr. has there own comfort zone there and certainly rightfully so.

Good luck my dear. Keep on keepin' on!!