Sunday Stroke Survival: What's Ahead

 I'm beginning to have doubts about my cardiologist choice of doctors, I had an inkling at our first meeting and now after my last appointment, that inkling has started to rattle inside. It's like you suspect there is something wrong with your car, nothing really major at first. It's just a suspicion until a rattling or vibration starts. Then you really know something is up. That's how I now feel about him now.

I moved up my appointment from the 15th to last week. I was that concerned about my fluid retention and the heart twinges I'd been feeling. Not really chest pain like angina, just little twinges that last maybe 2 seconds. These had the duration of 20 minutes to an hour. They occurred while I was not active or exerting myself in any way. I was concerned enough to move up my appointment.  I was puzzled and couldn't figure out. I needed to pick his brain as I had done in the past with my other specialists.

When I mentioned a possible link to my heart condition. He was like what heart condition. I reminded him of my status post MI. the stent placement, and three bad valves in my heart thinking he hadn't reviewed my chart before coming in. Unbelievable but understandable in a busy practice. Tech did run a 12-lead EKG after I was put in the room. He said, the stent fixed my heart from the MI, right? I nodded. What about my valves, I asked? Oh no need to be concerned over them. The nuclear study and echo showed only minimal leakage. The edema in my waist and legs? Oh, that isn't coming from your heart. As we age, he began. I halfway tuned him out at this point. He was speaking to me as if I were a child.

This irritates me to no end! I can understand trying to be helpful, but he was borderline of being condescending. He was basically telling me that I had no heart condition. That this visit was a waste of my time and his. All my other cardiologists were wrong and just stringing me along for the past fifteen years! Who would you believe?

He did placate me by scheduling me a heart cath on the 22nd to check on my heart twinges. He doubted whether he'd find anything. I was wondering if he'd be surprised like Dr Bolch was when he had to place a very large stent in my heart in 2005? He didn't think he'd find anything either. He was just placating my regular cardiologist who had seen me through four years of heart concerns. Not that I'm wishing for this mind you. I'm just saying. I know this isn't a Munchausen Syndrome type thing or anything like that. I know my body and listen to it. It may be time to interview a new cardiologist.

Conversely, I love my new endocrinologist! He took the time to read up on Hashimoto's before my appointment with me. To me, that's a sign of a good doctor. He wasn't afraid to say I don't know. We actually had a good chat and exam. He took time examining my thyroid and goiter. He even had me do a swallow test while he examined me. When I mentioned changes in my nails and hair, weight gain, he countered with questions about exhaustion levels and insomnia. He ran another complete thyroid panel and said I should have one done every three months instead of biannually to catch charges before the levels drop off severely. I agreed. He could fine tune it to monthly if needed. I read a NIH study that recommended this approach. This way we might head off the devastating effects of the spontaneous nosebleed symptom of this disease before it happens again and better sleep patterns. Proactive thinking, I love it.  

I was offered a way to live with this disease and not crimp my style too much. He gave me hope. It may not cure me, but at least it's a way out of my doom and gloom box.

What a difference a good doctor makes. I didn't bother my cardiologist with a referral to a vascular surgeon, I left that up to my PCP who I saw later in the day when I got the referral to an orthopedist for my shoulder. Of course, I got that referral too. As I said before, when I say refer me to a good doctor, I mean a doctor you would send your mother to. I'm looking forward to my Botox and getting back into therapies again. Onward we go to more positive gains. 

Nothing is impossible.