The Cardiologist said……..

Recently, we spent a little time on our health. I’ve been dealing with breathing issues and thought I probably had asthma and the King was due for his 3 monthly check on his trygliceride levels.

He has always struggled with these tricky little things. His doctor told him his levels were ‘incompatible with life…. Mr Mills your blood is more fat than blood’, in her thick Russian accent and he’d better do something immediately, so for the last 2 years they have been working to reduce weight and bring the levels down. This is happening, albeit slowly. He’s tried lots of things like giving up drinking and cutting out certain foods. There have been mixed results. Not drinking did nothing to change levels but the weight loss has helped. Imagine his delight in that!

At this visit he mentioned to the doctor that he had a sore hand, his left. There had been persistent pain in his left hand for a week. He was racing around before the appointment, as usual trying to squeeze every last second out of the day, and by the time he got to the doctor his blood pressure was ‘sky high’.  After the clinic nurse did all the prep and passed the info on the doctor, she burst into the room with a panicked look…….. and fired off 50 questions, checking everything out. You totally know she was thinking ….OMG you’re on the verge of a heart attack-not in my office!

She calmed down after examining him and figured it wasn’t a heart attack, probably muscular but wanted to check it out and sent the King off to the cardiologist immediately.

There goes this month’s wine budget……we’re uninsured you see, or self insured, you pick….but so far this has worked for us. It works out cheaper, waaayyyy cheaper! 7 years and counting 🙂

So anyway, being as it was last minute, the earliest appointment for the cardiologist was the next day, so that was scheduled and the prep was done.

The machines they hook you up to are weird looking but everything was apparently great, the heart of a 20 year old. AWESOME! ‘Perhaps don’t drink a whole bottle of wine a night, but really Mr Mills, you’re doing fine, keep doing whatever it is you’re doing.’

So he got a clean bill of health, that’s always a relief, my turn next month for a chest xray, there’s goes next month’s wine budget too! Luckily the cardiologist told him to cut down consumption anyway 🙂

Comments 3

  1. I’m so glad everything is okay with The King! I know what you mean about the wine budget. I definitely think in wine instead of dollars, when it comes to major expenses. $25 copay, guess we’ll be drinking two buck chuck from Trader Joe’s. $75 blood tests, guess we’ll be healthier and wine-free this week! 🙂

    1. Post
      Author
  2. Oh my gosh, that’s so scary! We were in the E.R. last winter with the same symptom with his hand and clammy skin, dizzy, etc. The cardiology tests came back fine. He has high blood pressure, but a strong heart. His doctor referred him for a sleep study. Does Mr. Mills snore? If yes, guess what??? Turns out, Desi has sleep apnea, very common in aging adults. His apnea caused him to basically be suffering from exhaustion. Secondly, it was elevating his blood pressure. Over time, untreated apnea can actually CAUSE heart disease because it starves the heart of oxygen. Scary. I would totally recommend a sleep study if he snores.

Leave a Reply to Lucy Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *