Health Concerns - Part 2

My hubby and I went to St. Luke's Hospital last weekend for his Heart Scan and my Treadmill Stress Test. His heart scan was a complicated process which involved the injection of a medicine containing radioactive chemicals, that was why he wasn't allowed to go near pregnant women and children below 12 years old at least 6 hours after the procedure. It was part of the monitoring of his heart condition since he had a mild heart attack in 2006, and he is supposed to undergo the procedure every year, to make sure that the blockage in his heart is not worsening. His blockage was in the inferior vena cava part of his heart which was not a good candidate for an angioplasty, so, to prevent it from worsening, he's now taking medications and he's very careful with his diet, although he's still yet to start doing some exercises.

On my part, the treadmill stress test was also needed to check on my PVCs, or skipped beats. The last time I had the stress test was during my Annual Physical Exam in my office, but due to the skipped beats that the doctor saw in my ECG, she stopped the test and told me to go back to my cardiologist. I procrastinate and didn't schedule the stress test until last week, because I wanted it to be done in a hospital environment this time, and I wanted my doctor to be present during the test.

So, finally, we were able to schedule both tests last weekend.

My hubby's procedure was from 8:00am to 12:00pm, so, while he was in the Nuclear Radiology, I proceeded to the Treadmill Stress Test. I tried to relax and didn't think much of what will happen to my test. I tried to reassure myself that I was in a hospital and that whatever happens, I will have doctors coming to my rescue to make sure that nothing happens to me. During the test, the ECG results were really scary with lots of PVCs, but again, I kept on looking at the nurse who was assisting me, and she didn't seem to mind, she just kept on adjusting the monitor that was attached on my waist because she said it was very sensitive which tend to be affected by the hospital gown that I was wearing. As I was progressing, I even reached Stage 5 and was able to finish the required 85% of the test, the PVCs disappeared, which was good news according to the nurse. The initial result was normal but we still had to wait for the official results from the cardiologist.

My hubby was already very hungry when I came back because he wasn't allowed to eat --- his last meal was at around 3:30am. The machine didn't even cooperate and bogged down, so, he had to wait for the other available machine. When I came back from my stress test, he was also just finished with his own stress test, so, you can just imagine how he was feeling, hungry and all and had to do some walking and running on a treadmill at the same time.

Last Monday, he received a text message from our cardiologist telling us the good news. His heart scan results were the same as his last test, which was a very good news because it just means that the blockage didn't worsen, and that the medicines and his diet are working. The doctor also said that although I have PVCs, I can already go to the gym to do some exercises. That's good news for both of us, and that's what we've always been praying for.

I got several questions asking me why I titled this as part 2, where's part 1? Here it is => Health Concerns, Part 1.