heart health...

i'm back & i'm smiling!

there was a whole lot of cardio-pulmonary information thrown my way, most of which i can't remember.

but, i LOVE my cardiologist.

he has such a strong passion for electrophysiology and it's always evident that he genuinely cares about his patients as people and wants them to have the best lifestyle they possibly can. he's not the kind of doctor that throws a bottle of pills your way and sends you on your way.

in fact, his goal is to have me medication free in the next 6 months. let's hope! because the medications i'm taking make me feel like crap. all the time.


i can't wait to burn this thing in the firepit!

anywho. today, i met with him to go over the results of that pesky heart monitor i had to wear for the past 30 days. well, probably more like 20, because i had to keep taking it off because i kept having an allergic reaction to the patches and they were destroying my skin and causing huge itchy welts.

he walked in with the printouts of my monitor and said "my goodness girl, you gave me a "bible" to read. i think i'll start in Genesis and maybe make it through to Matthew." funny guy. but really, he had at least a 3" stack of heart recordings from the monitor and flipped through at least half of them with me so i could see for myself.

turns out, i've been having (insert word i can't remember here) Premature Ventricular Contractions starting in the right ventricle (deoxygenated blood) and caused by (insert name i can't remember) which is just before the Pulmonary Valve. it's causing what's called pulmonary hypertension. different from the hypertension most people are familiar with when talking about blood pressure.

long story short....no surgery and i'm not gonna die from it!!! phew. but it will be a nuisance and will still cause symptoms. boo. the most noticeable being the palpitations and shortness of breath with minimal exertion.

now here's the exciting news! he just received government funding for a research study and with this condition and my SVT/innapropriate sinus tachycardia, i am the perfect candidate! he only gets to chose 10 patients and i'll be one of them.

it involves being followed for 3 months with a free personal trainer at Lifetime Fitness up at Easton.

this is HUGE and could be lifechanging for me. because for many years i've had to deal with what i consider one of the worst side effects of these heart issues---exercise intolerance.

when i exercise or even walk up a flight of steps my heart beats abnormally fast. normal rhythm, but fast. even when i only weighed 125 lbs., this was a huge issue.

i became even more intolerant to exercise after i got steriod injections in my back because i gained 80 lbs. in 6 months from those steroids. no, that is not a typo. 80 freakin' pounds.

and here's the real kicker.....i haven't been able to lose a single pound of it. not one.

so if they can recondition my cardiopulmonary system to be able to tolerate exercise without my heart beating so fast i feel like i'm dying AND get me off all medications in the process, then i'm all over it.

i'm excited to show cardiac disease who's boss. God is good. thank you for your prayers. of course i'll keep you posted on this journey to good heart health.