Keeping in mind the 'event' happened on January 11th.
My first appointment was on January 27th. This was what I thought was going to be the stress test. When I arrived I first saw a paramedic (apparently they work in cardiac places like this where someone could actually have a heart attack while having the tests and they have the best emergency training in those situations-who knew!!) He did all the basics-weight, height, bp, asked a million questions and then did an ECG. Then an internal medicine doctor came in. Very, very nice man but he was from the middle east somewhere and was so hard to understand! It's really hard to take in all the information when you are concentrated so hard to understand what he is saying. Anyway, I got some of what he was saying and then was sent back to the reception area and spoke to someone there. She was also from the middle east but her accent wasn't quite as hard to understand as the doctors. It was exhausting and I was more stressed when I left than when I went in there. Anyway she is my contact person and will set everything up for me. I had a list of I think 9 appointments!!
February 5 I had to go back and have a Holter monitor fitted to monitor my heart. I went in the afternoon and had it fitted. It's like a fanny pack strapped around my chest with a bunch of leads stuck all over me. Not great to sleep with but not too bad. Took it back the next day.
February 25 was an appointment to go to the sleep clinic for the sleep monitor. You just go to the clinic and they give you a package and tell you to watch a video at home. Not much help! Anyway I wore it that night and hardly got any sleep, took it back the next day. A couple of days later the tech phones me and says 'You need a c-pap machine, you stopped breathing 63 times an hour, every hour', you have sleep apnea. I said 'Well, I find that hard to believe because I was awake a large amount of time'. She said 'Oh, everyone says that, you need a c-pap'. I said I really was awake a lot so I doubt I stopped breathing 63 times an hour, every hour. So she said, well you probably had light breathing. I said well, I think there's a big difference between not breathing and light breathing!! No comment to that. Anyway, to make a long story short she said I should come and buy the machine for $2,500. When I said I wasn't going to do that she said I should rent one by the month for $350 a month and then buy one. I said that I wasn't going to do that either. So she got really rude and aggressive. I said before getting a c-pap machine what else could I do? So she kept going on about 'Well, at your age' there was no chance of losing weight or maintaining it and there were no alternatives!! So I said well I will be doing some of my own research and she said 'Fine, I'll phone you in 2 weeks and hung up. It was very evident that her goal was to sell a machine. So I did do some research and I also talked to my friend, who has a c-pap machine, and DIL who went to a sleep clinic overnight for testing. Both were shocked that I hadn't had it at the sleep clinic and that they didn't call me in to go over the results. After some research I learnt that there are mouth appliances that you can wear instead of the c-pap and dentists usually supply them. I had an appointment booked with my dentist for cleaning so when I went I talked to them. My dentist has made hundreds of these over the years and he wanted to see the report from the clinic. I said I didn't even get an in person meeting, never mind a report. Everybody thought that the main objective was for her to sell a c-pap. I already had a hard splint from the dentist and he said that would work. I've been wearing it ever since. Also I have the sleep app on my phone that tracks my sleep and there have been no episodes of sleep apnea!! The tech phoned me again a couple of weeks later and she wanted to know when I was coming in to get a machine. Well, I was very calm and polite, but I let her know that IF I was getting a c-pap machine it certainly wouldn't be from her clinic. I told her I thought she was rude and aggressive and definitely working the hard sell for the machines. She didn't disagree with anything I said and when I told her I talked to my dentist and had a mouth splint and the app on my phone she just said 'Well I'm glad you found something to helps you' and then she hung up!! So what do you think of all that?!
I have been wearing the splint every night and have had no episodes of sleep apnea!!
Moving on. Next was to see the Endocrinologist on Feb 27th. I had a ton of bloodwork prior to this visit so she would have all the results. Very nice lady. She said that all my bloodwork was in the normal ranges, no exceptions. No diabetes or pre-diabetes. She said I was in great shape for my age. There's that 'for your age' thing again, but this time on a positive note. I asked her about taking Metformin to help with weight loss and she said that was a good plan. This is a drug that she advises people to try before going to the injectables. I said I wasn't interested in the injectables but the pills I would try. It takes a long time to work up to an effective dose but I'm okay with that. I started on half a pill twice a day for a week and then 1 pill twice a day until I see her again in June. She thinks over time I can work up to 3 pills twice a day but she doesn't want me to go higher. She said you can go up to 5 but that would be too hard on my stomach. I had already lost 15lbs since 'the event' mainly from stress I'm sure. Then 1lb. a week since, so total of 21.
Finally, the stress test!! I was told that there would be 2 parts to the stress test. On March 17th I went for the Rest part of the stress test. They injected a dye into me and then I had to go into this big machine that was like a small MRI and had pictures of my heart taken laying on my stomach and then on my back.
Next was an Echocardiogram on March 21. That took an hour, but uneventful.
Then, on March 26th I went for the Tread Mill part of the stress test. Wasn't looking forward to that! I wasn't worried about not being able to do it because of my heart, I was worried about my knee. Another paramedic looked after me. I had to first get on a stretcher that was pretty high and the stool was high. I asked if I could use his arm, as there was nothing to hang onto, to get on the stretcher. He said as I needed help to get on the stretcher there was no way he was going to let me do the treadmill and have the chance of falling and damaging my knee. Instead I got an IV and had a drug injected that would stress my heart. Wait 6 minutes and then they inject the reversal. I just felt a bit weird and tingly but no other effects. Then I had to go into the same machine I went into for the resting stress test and again had the pictures taken front and back.
AND I AM DONE!! To celebrate we went to The Keg Steak House for supper. I just have to wait 2-6 weeks to see the Internal Medicine doctor to go over all the test results. I am so glad that is all over. So far it has been 3 weeks but haven't heard anything yet.
So far it has been 96 days from when the event took place. I can only think that there is nothing serious, if there was I would hope I would have heard something from them a lot sooner than 96 days!
So, sending me for a stress test turned out to be a heck of a lot more than I expected!!!
To be continued.