How to cope with Echo appointments and Cardiologists?

[escargome]

Malteser,

Well my friend that sounds kinda good. So maybe if you can, get into a regular walking routine for your weight and maybe it will help you get calm. As for the Atenolol and wine I can't opinion on that since I don't like wine. But I'm sure others with chime in soon.

Piglet:
Nah, I don't mind my family making a joke out of my "pit of dispair" see my favorite movie is "The Princess Bride" and one of the lines in the movie refers to the pit of dispair. So it makes me laugh and helps me not to get my knickers in a wad over the things I have no control over. But thanks for thinking of me...

 

[piglet]

Princess Bride is one of my favorites too, so I am familiar with the 'Pit of Despair' I guess we were only mostly dead during surgery.

 

[escargome]

Princess Bride is one of my favorites too, so I am familiar with the 'Pit of Despair' I guess we were only mostly dead during surgery.

Oh yes! I sure do agree with that.

 

[Julian]

So..... Blood pressure business! I try my best to slim down and get this right..... can I ask, he would like me to take 25mg twice a day, morning and evening. I like to have a drink during weekend, around a bottle of red wine whilst watching TV, do you think that this will be ok whilst on these medication ?

Thank you everyone.

Most of the time the answer is yes it should be fine just as long as its limited within reason and your not over doing it, 1 or 2 glasses of wine is reasonable, MAYBE even 3, anything after that is over doing it for sure. As ALWAYS ask the doctor first before partaking and you will be fine.

 

[hetmarie]

Hi there, sorry I'm joining this conversation towards the end. I'm glad to hear that your appointment went well and hopefully your mind will be put at ease somewhat. As for your blood pressure being elevated, given how nervous you were about the appointment, that may have had something to do with it? I can commiserate with you about being the youngest in the waiting room. I was diagnosed at 12 with an aneurysm near the aortic root. They were content to just watch it. I had echos every six months and then every year and then every two years as they watched it change minimally over the years. For the past 13 years or so, I had an echo every year and the aneurysm stayed at 4.8. I ended up having my aortic valve and ascending aorta replaced in March of this year (24 years after first diagnosis). The main reason is because of where the aneurysm was it made my aortic valve leak and worsened over the years. I also was re-diagnosed last year which caused them to want to replace everything sooner rather than later. (Still struggling with the decision to have surgery because the ticking is driving me nearly insane...probably worse so because I didn't really have any "symptoms".)

Anyway, the point of me telling you all this is I understand your nervousness of having to deal with this but it will get easier as time goes on. Eventually it will sleep to the back recesses of your mind only coming to the forefront when it's time for an echo. You'll be nervous for a couple days until you get the results and then it will fade back into the depths again.

I also wonder if all the other stress you're going under (buying new house, etc.) is making everything magnified. I've noticed in my own life when one thing is really bothering me, then everything seems to be magnified ten times worse.

Hang in there!

 

[themalteser]

Hi hetmarie,

Thankyou for your time taken to reply to my thread, I really appreciate this, and your story is of great courage to me, especially that you said your dilation was the same numbers for quite some time.

You're right about everything you said, I think I should try and put things a bit more into perspective, I'm an extremely worrying type of character! This month, we should move to the new house and hopefully, this should relax me a bit more, till my wife starts convincing me to buy new stuff!!

I'll hang in here. Thankyou

Escargone, thankyou for your reply, I really appreciate you walked with me during this journey. Hopefully next appointment should be better.

Julian - thankyou for reying to my comment. I'll ask my doctor to confirm , I'm sure it will be fine (hopefully)

Piglet - thanks aswell for all your comments, im very grateful on all your courage and help. The restaurants site you showed me is really good, I will start to be a bit more optimistic towards life, and look forward to it!

Thank you all.

 

[Gregory]

Good to get the bp under control and don't lift heavy weights. That bicuspid foundation site is a bit dramatic and ominous. I try not to visit it too much. Remember it's the most common congenital defect and we don't just drop dead. Staying out in front of any issues will help you manage through this new reality. Wishing you decades of good health.

 

[a4wanman]

Hang in there. My BAV was found when I was 6. Started with a pediatric cardiologist every 3 years. Over time, the time between my cardio visits went from 3 years to every other year to once a year to twice a year. After several years of 2 times, I had a feeling I was getting close to valve replacement even though I didn't had any classic symptoms. Keep eye on measurements via echos LV 6.7 cm, 4.6 aorta. Everything changed when I got a bacterial infection. After 6 weeks on IV antibiotics (5 wearing a pump), it was time to fix the valve at 39 years old. Also had the aorta aneurysm fixed and a bypass to boot.

Actually, after the surgery and recovery, I told my cardio we should have done this a few years ago. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways. I watched my numbers increase for years before surgery. I was told the time to do surgery is before it's too late, but not before you have to.