20 March 2009

Matters of the heart - fanaticism pays

It is no just over 16 months since I had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass and yesterday I went for my annual checkup with my cardiologist.

Even though I have taken my pills and been fanatical about my diet, there was a nagging doubt in the back of my mind, "What if things are not right?" I had enough time to think about it, because I had to wait four months for my appointment.

First off was the treadmill and the ECG. It was not a walk in the park, as my heart rate had to get up to 155. Though I was huffing and puffing at the end I felt fine.

Then it was into the consulting room with the cardiologist. He is a man of few words - or rather let me rephrase - very few words. The prognosis is usually, "I'm happy," or "I'm not happy." If he is not happy, you know you have a problem. In my case he actually increased the number of words when giving me his prognosis.

After taking my blood pressure and listening to my heart it was, "Perfect." Not many words but that made me happy. Then he said, "I am very happy with the results of the ECG." More good news.

The last hurdle was the cholesterol test. Again he was very happy.

My cholesterol is still at 3.6, which is the same level it was last year. The LDL remains unchanged at 2.5, but the HDL (the good one) has increased from 0.8 to 1. If he is happy then I am happy, even though I was hoping to get my LDL to below the 2.5 level, but I wont stress, because he is happy.

The last word was that I could come back for my next checkup in two years time.

13 comments:

shabby girl said...

YEA!!! CONGRATULATIONS!
Wow! That is Great news!
When Hubby was in the hospital with his hip replacement, his room mate had had a quadruple bypass. The hip thing was scary enough for us, I can't imagine looking at what you went through!
So happy for you!!!

Firefly the Travel Guy said...

Max lives to fight another day.

Well done on your results. Very good news indeed.

Anonymous said...

Great to hear! Congratulations. I am glad that you are taking the initiative and taking your health seriously. There are far too many patients that get distracted after around 6 months from a traumatic event like a heart attack or stroke.

Stay at it! I know its hard but you can do it!

Eleanor said...

Good for you! Blogworld would be impoverished if you weren't around. So keep living the really good life - the healthy one!

Corey Wilde said...

Good for you! I'm looking forward to lots more great blogging from you. (No stress, right?)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your good results!

Unknown said...

Yes, congrats on your results. Although I'm fairly new to your site, I do think all of us in blogland would be poorer without you.

Pat - Arkansas said...

WONDERFUL!!!

Unknown said...

A co-worker of mine had a heart attack last week. Glad you had a good check up.

Anonymous said...

Well done Max or should that be
MaxWELL.

Rose said...

I am glad you got good results from all the tests. I didn't know you had a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!!!!!!

Cheesy said...

*** golf clap ****

ur a gooooood boy!