char2mar
Well-known member
I finally got in to see my cardiologist today. I was suppose to go over my recent echo(performed at his office on Monaday). I had to wait 45 minutes before the nurse brought me into an examining room. There she did an EKG and checked my blood pressure. (What that had to do with my Echo results was beyond me.....but I went along with it anyway). My BP was 99/62. I was laying down when she took it. Then she left me there for another 40 minutes. I was tired so I took a nap. Finally the Doctor shows up and asked me how I was feeling today. ????? I said okay but I was still experiencing chest pain. He quickly scans my chart and asks me to discribe the pain. I tell him that my chest feels heavy and quite frequenly I get a sharp pain that rips through the center of my chest and into my back. I told him that the anti inflammatory drugs and the prendisone I was given for pericarditis (his diagnosis in December 2004) had done very little if anything for the chest pain ?????Then I said that I was here for my echo results. He looks in the chart and says they are not there. He leaves the office and comes back in about 15 minutes to tell me that the results have not been completed yet. Now my chest is really starting to hurt because I was fumming over the fact that I had booked 3 hrs off work for nothing. I told him so, he said I guess you did. Then he asks if I had gone to the ER for my chest pain??? Only 4 times and they did nothing cause I wasn't have a MI. Anyways to make a long story short the nurse walks in with my echo report. It said that I had a Bicuspid valve with a dilated ascending aorta. (and what are we going to do about it, I wonder???) Then he proceeds to tell me that my chest pains are atypical with the echo results and that I should get a thailium stress test done. Rule out CAD. I told him I had a treadmill test booked on the 14 (this coming Monday) so can I get that done then? He doesn't say anything. I pull out my stack of rhythm strips I was collected over the last two months that show PACs and PVCs. I also tell him that I have been experiencing pain in the right side of my neck and point to the area of my neck where you can see obvious swelling. I told him about the night sweats and the low grade fevers I have been getting. I said to him...Perhaps I was missed diagnosed and I have endocarditis, and isn't it time I had cultures done? What he says? No one has done blood cultures on you yet??? NO!! I shout back at him. He leaves the office. He comes back in 5 minutes to tell me that he is going to order blood cultures x 3 and refer me to an internist because he doesn't deal with infections of the heart. ???? He is also going to do a 48 hr holter monitor test on me. Then he leaves again. By this time it was 515 pm. My appointment was at 245 pm. (2 1'2 hrs and still no answers to my chest pain) Then his nurse came back and gave me a requistion for cultures, told me they canceled the treadmill test. Said they couldn't book me in for the thalium test until March 28 and the holter for Mar 30. They will phone and let me know when I can see the internist and that I could go now......I said I still had questions for the docotor. She informs me that he is gone for the day. I stormed out of the office.......(BAD patient that I am.) ???? So this is what I would like to know from anyone who has BAV with a dilated ascending aorta, Is the pain I am experiencing aortic pain? Shouldn't I be put on some kind of beta blockers to prevent the aorta from dilating more? (it is 3.9 cm) Is the swelling of the right side of my neck related to the aorta and could this be the beginning of a aortic dissection? Should I have a thalium stress test done? (whats the point?? if my pain is not caridio related??) Should I punch my cardiologist in the head and never come back? Should I go about my life and forget I even have a heart problem and hope that one day very soon it will all go away?
I have moderately severe AV regurgitation. My EKG shows LVH by voltage. Left anterior fascular block (conduction block) and the echo says that my LV end diastole is 53 mm and my LV end systole is 35 mm. (upper normal limits) My LV has enlarged by 2 mm since my last echo 1 month ago.
I had my first set of blood cultures done tonight. I was feverish when I got it done. Tomorrow I am going to take the day off of work and see my PCP and demand a CT scan and to see someone who is willing to sit down with me and discuss what lays ahead for me in the future.
What a pissy ass day this has turned out to be.!!!!!! Help I need a shoulder to cry on!!!! Chest pain since Nov 2, 2005 and still no definite diagnosis or treatment plain....
Char
