I Passed the Test!

I had an Echo-Cardiogram Stress Test today. And I passed it with no trouble.

First, I was "wired" for an EKG. Not your normal EKG, I had 10 sensors hooked up. Then the nurse took my blood pressure. I was connected to a Quiton Q-Stress tester and I could see the heart pulses and pulse rate displayed. The METs, a measure of heart/lung performance was 4.6 resting. Later under stress that went up to 7.0.

Then I had to lay on the examining table/cot and while still wired up had an extensive Echo Gram looking for aneurysms, etc. The nurse complained that I had too much air in my stomach, and the machine had a hard time "looking" through air. I was asked if I ate breakfast and I replied, "I never eat breakfast, but did have a couple of cups of coffee."

We moved on with me on my left side so she could look at the heart. Every once in a while I could hear the sound of blood flow out of the heart. Sort of a growl but occuring at the rate of the pulse. Interesting but of no value to me.

Then came the stress test. The Cardiologist, a nurse and the technician were all present. The nurse took my Blood Pressure and I began "walking" on the treadmill. Did that for six minutes. And at several tread mill levels. The result was "fair to normal." It was not as steep as my morning walk but at a faster pace, 2.5 miles per hour. So I guess there is a trade off in there somewhere.

After the stress test and during the recovery, heavy breathing on my part, another heart echo-gram was conducted. Took about 3 or so minutes for my heart rate to decline along with my breathing and Blood Pressure.

So I passed.

And the Cardiologist said there were no blockages. He also said the Naisapam I was taking did not do much for blockages, not as much as they expected it to. But that it was super stuff for Cholrestorol treatment, so keep taking it and all the meds I was taking. And to keep doing my morning walks. He also said there are no guarantees and that things looked good but you can never tell. I take that as a self protection against an unusual cardiac event.

The final was, "See you next year." So for now on, I get an annual stress test.
The goal is to continue to pass tests.