Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Golden Grahams - Part 2

Wow, sorry these posts are getting so long. Props for you for still reading them!

Dr. Bodkin just faxed over my charts...and holy moley, I'm pretty sure both doctors read it wrong. The results summary says my heart rate went from 104-140. The chart says that upon starting, my resting HR was 104 bpm; it peaked at 152 bpm at 22 minutes, and ended at 147 bpm at 40 minutes (the end of the standing). Nine minutes later, when I was supine, it landed at 90 bpm.

Wouldn't it make sense, then, for the summary to say that my heart rate range was 90-152? That's a pretty significant difference, and might make the difference in a diagnosis of orthostasis. The exact quote from the report: "The patient completed the entire protocol with no significant events occurring." hmm...

Rar. Will show this to Dr. Cooley next week.

All the EKGs performed came back normal.

Symptoms recorded during exam:
  • 2 minutes into test: felt like I was "lurching back and forth;" felt like I was going to fall on my face
  • 3 min: seeing black spots
  • 13 min: hands very cold
  • 15 min: fingertips numb; very tired
  • 18 min: nauseous
  • 21 : feeling hot
  • 23: chest pain (I think at this point I was having really bad brain fog. I remember him asking me to repeat what I said for most of the remaining symptoms because I wasn't making much sense.)
  • 25: hard to swallow, asked for water
  • 30: chest pain a lot worse on my right side
  • 35: fingers tingling
  • 39: right elbow hurts
  • 6 minutes after being supine: really distorted sense of balance. The table returned to approx. a 15 degree angle; I felt like my head was much lower than the rest of my body, inches away from the floor. Face hurt like I'd been hit by a truck.
I guess the technician didn't record all the times I asked if I could "get off" or "go home"...yeah I think I was really out of it. No fun. Especially because they didn't let my mom come with me, even when the procedure was being explained. Bad idea on their part; I think everybody needs someone there to speak on their behalf. I should've insisted. I have memory loss! But I guess I forgot. =P

Per sibling request, I am adding the movie quote guessing game to the end of each post from now on. One guess per sibling, unlimited guesses for everybody else.

"I dunno. This is espresso, you know? It's like Coffee-zilla."
"I said I'm hip."
em

P.S. Forgot to put the highlights from my blood pressure:
  • 1 min 130/76
  • 9 min 113/79
  • 17 min 112/60
  • 20 min 130/70
  • 24 min 104/ 50
  • 30 min 110/71
  • 35 min 109/59
  • 40 min 106/60
  • 2 min after being supine: 97/70
  • 9 min after: 113/67
Don't know if these data mean as much.
Anyway, thanks guys! God Bless! :)

2 comments:

  1. Clearly you're quoting Iron Giant.

    I'm really sorry that you went through all that. Even I have the bad habit of brushing this stuff off, because I'm not experiencing it directly.

    As for the summary, idk, maybe it's supposed to omit the outliers? We'll see what the Milwaukee guy has to say. As ever, I hope that this new guy can help. In the meantime, try to have some fun despite your pain.

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  2. I sure hope you print out the list of symptoms, and all you have been tested for and the information about how you felt during the table test for the doctor in Wisconsin. You have done such an excellent job of keeping track of all the symptoms you have and are experiencing. If its not printed in a list you may forget and miss writing a few of them down and they will all be important for this doctor to see. At this point you probably have that, I could see the answer to some of the forms that have to be filled out as 'see attached'. So many doctors and so much information. Kudos to you for keeping such great lists and information, that isn't easy to do when you are not feeling well. Keep blogging!

    I love the movie quotes! But I'm not good at that stuff, so I'll enjoy seeing eveyones' guesses and be so be so excited if I get one some time.

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