Consult For Me Again, Dr McDreamy

JAN 28, 2010
Well cardiology day had finally arrived and it didn't take long to realize I'd found myself a true, blue Cardio-god (another 25 bonus points for the TV reference) for a specialist. (if you can't already hear it, imagine a soft angelic choir singing "ah-AH" in major chord progressions). I will admit that the nurse cracked me up, mostly because I was unintentionally cracking her up. So she came in, took the usual history, my pulse, and my blood pressure. Then she got up and handed me a gown, asked me to undress from the waist up and then left me alone. Ok, no problem. A few minutes later, she came back with this machine on a cart and asked me to lay on the examining table. Again, I can do that. Then she gets out all this little sticky pads and starts putting them all over me. Now you should know, that I'm pretty much game for whatever, but that I've never (to my knowledge) had any tests done on my heart, so I had no idea what was going on. So I asked the nurse exactly what she was doing and she said, "Setting up your EKG." Oh, ok. Wait. "What exactly is an EKG?" She looked at me and started laughing as she apologized saying that she never sees new patients and forgot that I wasn't a regular at this. It was at that point that she fully told me what was going on, which basically included me laying flat on a table for about 3 minutes. I like these kind of tests.

After a few more minutes, the doctor himself walked in. Now, I've been keeping my posts fairly anonymous as not to throw specific people under the bus, but I'm going to tell you my cardio doc's name mostly because if you have heart issues, you should demand to see him. Even if you don't live near Chicago, the drive might be worth it. Anyway, Dr J Stella came in to talk about my heart and the surgery and my EKG results.
Its important to note here that every one's heart operates slightly differently than the next person. Most of cardiology is based on generalizations. And, if every person went to have their ticker checked out, they would probably find out at least one way that they vary from the 'norm.'
Knowing that, what Dr. Stella told me was he found 1 smallish issue in my EKG. The first was that I have a Right Bundle Branch Blockage (RBBB). Ahhh-that sounds bad! But, alas, it is not. Basically as the good Dr explained, the heart has 4 chambers, 2 atria that sit atop 2 ventricles divided into right and left sides by a muscle called the septum. My understanding is that the septum between the right and left side of the heart is where the electrical impulse comes from to make the heart contract (beat). In a 'normal' heart, the impulse travels down the septum to the bottom of the heart and then up the sides of the ventricles to the atria, where the charge meets again. In my slightly abnormal heart, the charge goes down the septum but only travels up the left side, in a circular motion until it gets all the way back around to the septum. Dr Stella informed me that this is very common and is not a cause for concern. In fact, according to a study(that he actually quoted to me because he rocks) there is no evidence that a RBBB is a precursor or predeterminite factor for heart problems later in life. Score!
[Sidebar: I'm not a doctor, not a cardiologist, and have a little (but not much) medical training. Don't use me as a source. And do NOT skip seeing a cardiologist because I told you a RBBB is no big deal if you think you have one. Let your cardio-god tell you himself!]

My second issue Dr Stella found after listening to my heart was that he believed I have a small heart murmur. Again, that sounds bad. Unfortunately this time, he wasn't able to assure me so quickly that I needent worry about it. What we did do was schedule me for an echocardiogram (an ultrasound of the heart) and a stress echo (where they do the echo after exercise) for about 2 weeks out. And basically I get to stew over that diagnosis for the 3 weeks until my next appointment with him! (PostScript- At one of my best DQ moments, I did tell someone that they were aggravating my heart murmur. That was actually kind of fun)

See? What did I tell you all about 4 posts ago? If I was going to fail any portion of these consults it was going to be cardio. I haven't technically failed, but I've definitely been shuffled to the remedial section of class. More on the echo portion and my first "group meeting" at the surgeons office soon!