Chris’ visit with the oncologist was at best, anticlimactic. The fellow who came in first didn’t seem to know much of anything. Needs some seasoning, I guess. But then the actual doctor came in. He stepped in the room. Didn’t even sit down. Proclaimed, “All looks good. Come back and see me in 3 months. Let’s get you out of here.” No, seriously. That’s exactly what he said. Now, Chris did stop him and ask the questions she had, and he was good about answering them. The whole thing just took about ten minutes.
My visit was in the afternoon. Cardiologist for me. Yep. Right to the heart of the matter. Get it? And boy, did they ever “get it”.
First off, we had to drive clear to Angleton to see the guy we wanted - Chris’ cardiologist. First available appointment of course. For those of you who have never heard to Angleton, it’s about an hour roughly south of us.
The fellow and ultimately the real doc had a hard time figuring me out. I don’t really have any symptoms, so they couldn’t go off of that. Instead they used the results of that stress test I took a month or two ago along with what parts of the heart they could see in the CT scan of my back from even further ago. Piecing those together, I could tell the cardiologist didn’t feel really comfortable with just medication. And when he heard we were planning a trip that included hiking, he balked even more (and so did Chris).
I did my best to put everything off for the three weeks of our trip. Even offered my body for whatever they wanted to do in exchange for the temporary reprieve. But the guy is an interventionist. I knew he would want to cover all the bases, and that would probably mean going straight to the heart cath level.
I think we reached a sort of uneasy compromise, but it was one Chris was on board with, so here we go. In a nut shell, I now have to join the ranks of the hordes who take a baby aspirin every day. I also have to take an anti-cholesterol medicine. Both of those were apparently non-negotiables.
On top of that, I also have to do another stress test, but this time with an echocardiogram to boot. They are seeing if it will simply show a repeat of what the basic stress test showed, or if that one happened to be a false positive, or if it shows something more serious. In the case of the latter, then I’ll probably have to have a full-on heart cath like Chris did. The fellow assured me he would do his best to get me worked in as soon as possible. I offered to drive straight over from there, but for some reason he didn’t seem to take my offer seriously. I just have to wait for a phone call.
So … all of that means that our trip to the Great Northern wastelands is on hold for the time being. In the meantime, we’re off to Randall’s pharmacy for some more drugs.
Psalms 34:4-5 says, I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
Father, could you grease some wheels to get these tests done as soon as possible? It does help that I already trust this guy. Give him some of the supernatural wisdom of yours. Amen.
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