Time to meet with Dr. Jerry, cardiologist, and review the results of some of yesterday's tests. He was so good to squeeze me into his already overbooked schedule. I left a message last night with BMT to say I managed to get an expedited appointment, and I need to get the results of the EKG and echocardiogram to take with me today, However, I haven't heard anything. So at 9:00 a.m. I call BMT to see how to get the results for my 10:00 appointment. Nothing like having an urgent deadline!
Still trying to get the bone marrow transplant scheduled for sometime next week.
We meet with Brad, the PA, first. He's not very encouraging.
We've been watching my aortic valve for about five years. It was damaged by the radiation I got 36 years ago and needs to be replaced when it measures less than .75. (That's a fun discussion to have. Do I want it replaced with a pig valve that requires more daily medications and has a higher risk of rejection or a mechanical one, which will make a funny audible sound if you're close to me?)
Measurement from the echocardiogram? .64. NO! My heart feels like it skips a beat. No pun intended. How do we fit a heart valve transplant in with a bone marrow transplant? Which has priority? If we need to strengthen the heart so it survives the bone marrow process, cancer isn't usually patient so what does that mean? If we proceed with the bone marrow, will that weaken my heart so much that I won't survive? I did not expect this at all. Shoot!
What do we do now? I volunteer that the technician really wasn't very good. She often couldn't find what she was looking for and I now have about six bruises from the amount of pressure she used in different positions to try and find the place. Is there any chance that it was just a bad scan?
Dr. Jerry comes in at this point to weigh in. He agrees with my possible explanation, so we need to do another type of test to try and get a more accurate number. Do I want a TTE (transesophageal echocardiogram)--a small video recording device shoved down my throat so they can get closer to the aorta? I've had one of those. All that gag reflex jumping in and a very sore throat afterwards? What's my other option? A heart catheterization. Oh, I've had 3-4 of those. Access the inguinal arteries and veins in my right leg (of course, because the scar tissue and healing incision from the biopsy is still in my left leg) and thread a wire up into the heart. That's the option I want. Plus, while they're already there, they can enter the lungs and get an accurate reading of my pulmonary hypertension, which Dr. Mike, pulmonologist, would love to review on Friday. He's been bugging me for another heart cath for the last year or so.
We have a plan. Now we just have to schedule it, which goes from bad (.64 reading) to worse. Dr. Jerry recently moved and is no longer a covered provider or has privileges at a covered hospital. Shoot again! He can recommend a former colleague to me, but it's definitely not what I want.
After several phone calls to my insurance and various hospitals around Utah and Salt Lake counties, I finally decide we'd better go with the covered provider and hospital, so our medical bills don't escalate.
I start praying at this point that we're able to get the cath scheduled soon--next week, if possible. Several more phone calls and Brad returns my call. Success! Dr. Carter can do it Tuesday morning at UVRMC in Provo if that works with my schedule. I'll make it work.
I'm supposed to meet with Dr. Wendy on Tuesday, but I think she's easier to reschedule than trying to get another heart cath appointment. I'll take Tuesday, with Dr. Carter, in the UVRMC heart lab. Do I need a weapon to finalize my choice (like the game Clue?). Oh, the weapons are scalpels and hemostats and wires. I win!
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