Trinityheart8891
Well-known member
Hey Guys!
I know this is like a month late, but I wanted to update everyone on my trip to Boston and my appointment at BACH.
My appt was 4/11/11, we had an excellent time in Boston for the few days we were down there, we went shopping/roaming around down near fanuiel hall and quincy market and a park/wharf near the Charles River, we went to hard rock cafe, Boston, and we also hit up a red sox/yankees game (Sox won, woo hoo!!!) Then the morning of my appointment we went to the Boston Museum of Science, which was awesome (I wish we had more time to roam around in there, but 1:30 was coming quickly)
My appt was excellent! Yet again, I learned a whole lot more about my heart than I had known. I had a cardiac MRI, an EKG, and a stress test. The cardiac MRI wasnt horrible, but it wasnt exactly fun, either. . . Well worth the pictures they got though, I got to see some of them, and it is down right amazing what they can do now a days! I saw some of the 3D reconstructions of the images, and they were Beautiful! My aorta is down right Phunky looking (has a "kink" in it, and is mildly narrowed), and we learned from the MRI that I DO NOT have a Bicuspid aortic valve more (I saw it myself, looking down the barrel of my aorta towards my left ventricle, albeit leaky, its a perfect looking mercedes sign) also, I do in fact have a VSD patch leak, which means I will always have to take pre dental antibiotics. The EKG was the same as ever (usually anti climactic
)
more good news is that I did better on the stress test this year than last, which means that my cardiac status is good, and my functional capacity is improving with exercise.
I got the go to have kids when it is time, they can hook me up with a local high risk OB GYN and they told me that I will need to be seen frequently, and they will echo the baby, and echo me once a trimester.
The last thing was the only not so good news, I am having SVTs again, probably related to scar tissue is what Dr V said, as well as that my heart is some times beating hard/faster than it needs to (rate was around 100 in the office, and it was pounding on my sternum, the PA noted this as well on the exam) They put me on Metoprolol, extended release (Toprol XL) I started out with 25 mg's, and went up to 50 mg's, instead of monitoring to see what the rhythms are, they said if this doesnt work we'll have to do a monitor to see whats going on (I actually take this as a good option, as opposed to having to wear a 30 day monitor or implantable loop recorder)
I was VERY lucky to have Roland involved in the appointment as well as my mom, the interactions with the BACH staff were awesome, they seemed to know very well how to control the flow of the appointment and not let my mom take over, like she has in the past, they also allowed Roland and I to talk alone with them, which I think helped Roland understand better what's going on with me as far as my heart, and to include him as "part of the team"
I will be seeing them next year again (they gave me a choice of whether or not I want to be seen in boston again, but based on the care I have recieved, its a no brainer), they also would like me to see someone locally so I have a local cardiologist, in case of emergency, so I have made an appointment with the local ACH cardio which I didnt like very much in the past, just to have the appt, and a local cardio seeing me
anyways, I just thought I'd share my good news
does anyone here have any experience with metoprolol? I am assuming I'll probably end up needing to persue this further at some point, gotta love being on cardiac meds, its definitely better than the alternative though!
I know this is like a month late, but I wanted to update everyone on my trip to Boston and my appointment at BACH.
My appt was 4/11/11, we had an excellent time in Boston for the few days we were down there, we went shopping/roaming around down near fanuiel hall and quincy market and a park/wharf near the Charles River, we went to hard rock cafe, Boston, and we also hit up a red sox/yankees game (Sox won, woo hoo!!!) Then the morning of my appointment we went to the Boston Museum of Science, which was awesome (I wish we had more time to roam around in there, but 1:30 was coming quickly)
My appt was excellent! Yet again, I learned a whole lot more about my heart than I had known. I had a cardiac MRI, an EKG, and a stress test. The cardiac MRI wasnt horrible, but it wasnt exactly fun, either. . . Well worth the pictures they got though, I got to see some of them, and it is down right amazing what they can do now a days! I saw some of the 3D reconstructions of the images, and they were Beautiful! My aorta is down right Phunky looking (has a "kink" in it, and is mildly narrowed), and we learned from the MRI that I DO NOT have a Bicuspid aortic valve more (I saw it myself, looking down the barrel of my aorta towards my left ventricle, albeit leaky, its a perfect looking mercedes sign) also, I do in fact have a VSD patch leak, which means I will always have to take pre dental antibiotics. The EKG was the same as ever (usually anti climactic
) more good news is that I did better on the stress test this year than last, which means that my cardiac status is good, and my functional capacity is improving with exercise.
I got the go to have kids when it is time, they can hook me up with a local high risk OB GYN and they told me that I will need to be seen frequently, and they will echo the baby, and echo me once a trimester.
The last thing was the only not so good news, I am having SVTs again, probably related to scar tissue is what Dr V said, as well as that my heart is some times beating hard/faster than it needs to (rate was around 100 in the office, and it was pounding on my sternum, the PA noted this as well on the exam) They put me on Metoprolol, extended release (Toprol XL) I started out with 25 mg's, and went up to 50 mg's, instead of monitoring to see what the rhythms are, they said if this doesnt work we'll have to do a monitor to see whats going on (I actually take this as a good option, as opposed to having to wear a 30 day monitor or implantable loop recorder)
I was VERY lucky to have Roland involved in the appointment as well as my mom, the interactions with the BACH staff were awesome, they seemed to know very well how to control the flow of the appointment and not let my mom take over, like she has in the past, they also allowed Roland and I to talk alone with them, which I think helped Roland understand better what's going on with me as far as my heart, and to include him as "part of the team"
I will be seeing them next year again (they gave me a choice of whether or not I want to be seen in boston again, but based on the care I have recieved, its a no brainer), they also would like me to see someone locally so I have a local cardiologist, in case of emergency, so I have made an appointment with the local ACH cardio which I didnt like very much in the past, just to have the appt, and a local cardio seeing me
anyways, I just thought I'd share my good news
does anyone here have any experience with metoprolol? I am assuming I'll probably end up needing to persue this further at some point, gotta love being on cardiac meds, its definitely better than the alternative though!
