Nocturne
Well-known member
I have not seen all the numbers yet but I did learn that my VMax went from a 2.4 to an average of 2.3. If that keeps up, I'll never need surgery! :^)
I'm calling it good news.
Asked Tech to see if he thought my aortic valve was bicuspid or not and got a lot of confused waffling. My chart said Bicuspid, but I know that was what my cardio doc wrote in there mostly because of my age -- I'd been previously told my valve was normal. Got the same thing as last time, mostly - lots of scrunching and peering and "Hmm..."ing. At first he was sure it was a normal valve, then he saw something that made him wonder otherwise, then he was sure it was normal again, then he wasn't sure... Here's my theory - the valve is calcified, and two of the cusps are coming fused together, but are not totally that way yet. And everyone looks at me and sees a fortysomething year old man and KNOWS I MUST be bicuspid, despite what they are seeing, which confuses them. Heh.
Have found a Facebook group for people with high Lp(a), which has been interesting. They all know stuff I know, so when I introduced myself and they asked, "Are you I, or G?" and I said I was double-G, they knew right away, "Oh man, I'm sorry, that sucks..." A bit frustrating to see how many of them have gotten on Repatha and lowered their Lp(a) -- one woman, whose Lp(a) is a little lower than mine and who is also GG like me, suffered a heart attack, double bypass, and AVR at the age of 35, and cut her Lp(a) in HALF with Repatha, which apparently the G allele responds well to. Why is it frustrating? Because so many of these people were able to qualify because their LDL didn't go down enough on a statin, and I busted my ass losing 60 pounds and lowering my LDL by 50 points on my own before even trying a statin, which means I may have screwed myself out of lifesaving medication by being too proactive. Going to talk to my cardio doc and depending on how that goes, there may be some discrete pizza eating in my future in an effort to raise my LDL and get on Repatha -- I know that is bananas, but that is the wha-ha-ha-hacky world of medical insurance I guess!
I'm calling it good news.
Asked Tech to see if he thought my aortic valve was bicuspid or not and got a lot of confused waffling. My chart said Bicuspid, but I know that was what my cardio doc wrote in there mostly because of my age -- I'd been previously told my valve was normal. Got the same thing as last time, mostly - lots of scrunching and peering and "Hmm..."ing. At first he was sure it was a normal valve, then he saw something that made him wonder otherwise, then he was sure it was normal again, then he wasn't sure... Here's my theory - the valve is calcified, and two of the cusps are coming fused together, but are not totally that way yet. And everyone looks at me and sees a fortysomething year old man and KNOWS I MUST be bicuspid, despite what they are seeing, which confuses them. Heh.
Have found a Facebook group for people with high Lp(a), which has been interesting. They all know stuff I know, so when I introduced myself and they asked, "Are you I, or G?" and I said I was double-G, they knew right away, "Oh man, I'm sorry, that sucks..." A bit frustrating to see how many of them have gotten on Repatha and lowered their Lp(a) -- one woman, whose Lp(a) is a little lower than mine and who is also GG like me, suffered a heart attack, double bypass, and AVR at the age of 35, and cut her Lp(a) in HALF with Repatha, which apparently the G allele responds well to. Why is it frustrating? Because so many of these people were able to qualify because their LDL didn't go down enough on a statin, and I busted my ass losing 60 pounds and lowering my LDL by 50 points on my own before even trying a statin, which means I may have screwed myself out of lifesaving medication by being too proactive. Going to talk to my cardio doc and depending on how that goes, there may be some discrete pizza eating in my future in an effort to raise my LDL and get on Repatha -- I know that is bananas, but that is the wha-ha-ha-hacky world of medical insurance I guess!
