Dr. appt.

[kfay]

Here's something I read this morning that I think it's easy for us to do when we all go to the Dr. I thought this had some good points for us to all remember.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/02/03/ep.cardiologist.heart.secrets/index.html

 

[epstns]

A good article.

Another thing to watch -- I knew I had aortic stenosis, so I was carefully watching for the onset of symptoms for almost 9 years. None (other than fatigue) appeared, but my cardio and I decided it was time to replace the valve. When I had the obligatory heart catheterization in preparation for surgery, I was truly stunned to learn that I have an artery that is blocked seriously enough to require bypass along with the valve replacement. I was experiencing what turned out to be some early symptoms of trouble from the blockage, but I shrugged it off and blamed it on the valve slowly progressing. I believe that if I hadn't been preparing for the valve surgery, I probably would have gone on in denial and had a major heart attack. Moral of the story. . . NONE of these symptoms are trivial. Discuss with your cardio, and if you can't comfortably talk with the cardio, you've got the wrong one!

 

[Allisoninoz]

Just like me ...

Just like me ...

A good article.

Another thing to watch -- I knew I had aortic stenosis, so I was carefully watching for the onset of symptoms for almost 9 years. None (other than fatigue) appeared, but my cardio and I decided it was time to replace the valve. When I had the obligatory heart catheterization in preparation for surgery, I was truly stunned to learn that I have an artery that is blocked seriously enough to require bypass along with the valve replacement. I was experiencing what turned out to be some early symptoms of trouble from the blockage, but I shrugged it off and blamed it on the valve slowly progressing. I believe that if I hadn't been preparing for the valve surgery, I probably would have gone on in denial and had a major heart attack. Moral of the story. . . NONE of these symptoms are trivial. Discuss with your cardio, and if you can't comfortably talk with the cardio, you've got the wrong one!

I too was stunned - as were my doctors - to discover I have an 'anomalous origin of right coronary artery', which basically means it's coming from the wrong spot. Like you, I'm going to be having bypass surgery as well as aortic valve replacement. And, like you, if I wasn't being monitored and then my cardio booking me in for an angio in December to assess how the valve was going (given my gradual ageing-like symptoms and annual echo deterioration) etc, we wouldn't have known anything about the dodgy artery. It's an unusual situation but the surgeon and doctors have explained that blood vessels are very clever and find a way around things (like tree roots) BUT now they know about it, they'll certainly fix it. Again, don't ignore symptoms and assume it's only the valve!