slipkid
Well-known member
My medical history is in 2014 I had major heart attack, emergency open heart surgery, double bypass, AVR replacement (mechanical On-X), + last Fall my prior cardiologist detected a blockage in routine nuclear stress test, did a cardiac cath, & put a stent in to open another artery.
I got a new cardiologist this year (long story with what happened with the last one which I will not bore you with at this point).
My first visit with new cardio Dr was over the phone earlier this year as an introductory visit, then had an in person visit 1st week in July.
New cardio Dr. wanted to do an echocardiogram to check on my heart after the stent (had not had that done yet, sounded like a good idea). I was going to get it done around here closer to where I live/more convenient but he recommended that they do it in his office instead because that way he said will read the results himself rather than have to rely on a different Dr to interpret the data.
So I hung out (went to lunch actually & came back) and had it done in his office, they squeezed me in that afternoon. Dr told me that regardless of the echo result he wanted to see me again in October, and probably have a nuclear stress test as further followup after that visit.
Next morning someone in his office called and told me that the result was "no change since last echo in 2015". Good news I guess but was not sure.
I was not given a copy of the report or any other details. I was curious if my ejection fraction had improved because prior to the stent last Fall it had dropped from 55% down to around 45%. Wondered if it had recovered any after the blockage was lessened.
I had to see my PCP the very next day so I mentioned to him then that I just had an echo done but was not given any details other than "no change since 2015" etc etc. So he pulled up the report & printed me out a copy, and we went over that ourselves. First thing was good news, according to that my ejection fraction went up to 60%!!! WOW! Did not think that was even possible,
But then I noticed multiple things that had me scratching my head which I pointed out to the PCP. It appears that this report may not even be for me or at very least has incorrect data in it from God knows where!
In the section of the report with the heading of AORTIC VALVE it says this:
- The aortic valve is tri-leaflet
- The valve is calcified with restriction of motion
- The aortic valve has moderate stenosis and mild regurgitation
- The peak gradient is 44mm HG and the mean gradient is 24mm
It then goes on to say other things etc etc etc etc.
Right away I spotted that the first 3 points above make no sense, at least not to me.:
- My aortic valve is most certainly NOT "tril-leaflet". It is a mechanical valve with 2 swinging doors. And my original valve which I do not even have any more was only bicuspid in the first place. Why does the report say it is tricuspid???
- My aortic valve is mechanical. I asked my PCP - can it even GET cholesterol deposits (isn't it engineered NOT TO?) and if it can how can it calcify in ONLY 5 YEARS (to which he had no answer)?
- Plus - how could the valve have STENOSIS (not open properly)????? WOULDN'T THAT BE BIG DEAL FOR A MECHANICAL VALVE??? That would mean the valve itself has some kind of defect, maybe it is friggin' BROKEN????
The PCP agreed with me that things in the report did not add up and said I should discuss it with the cardiologist. I asked him to please bring it up with him as a Dr instead of me because of all the bad past experiences I have had with Drs who do not like patients pointing out problems/errors/etc to them. So he said he would do that.
Additionally I noticed that the name of the Dr who read the echo and produced the report is someone I never heard of; it was NOT the cardiologist who told me to have it done at his office because that way HE will be the one to read it! Instead it is probably just someone on staff in radiology (??). So that to me is a strike against this new cardiologist right there (he told me to have the test there since that way he will be the one to read the data, yet he doesn't).
Fast fwd to about 2 weeks ago, I had to see the PCP again, without all the details why will just say that the PCP is suspecting some new heart probs, wants me to get nuclear stress test NOW rather than wait and wants me to see the new cardio Dr now rather than wait until my appt in October. I asked him what happened when he talked to my new cardiologist about the questionable echo test as per our last visit. He gave me a blank stare. He completely 4got about the echo report problems that we talked about the previous month. And this is a Dr I actually like and have faith in. Sigh. So I explained it to him again, we talked about it etc. He said he would look into it and I said I was going to do some research as well, and bring it up to the cardiologist myself in case he didn't have time.
So I reached out to On-X for some answers. In the past they helped me greatly clear up and clarify some things which my previous cardiologist & his staff were clueless about. I spoke with someone there very knowledgeable and helpful and he confirmed that my suspicions about the report being fishy were correct, the valve is NOT trileaflet, it cannot get cholesterol deposits or calcify (it is inert), makes no sense to say the valve has stenosis etc etc. Additionally he also pointed out that the info in the last point I cited above (peak gradient 44 and mean gradient 24) did not sound right either (my particular valve should have around a 14mm pressure gradient).
So I contacted my PCP and let him know what On-X said and he reacted in a way which I very much appreciated, which was something like "What utter garbage!!! I am going to contact Dr X (cardiologist) right away and bring all this to his attention, and tell him that they owe you a new echo at their expense!!!". Over a week later I asked how that went (I am seeing the cardio Dr next week) and the PCP told me that he left emails for him but he never responded! But that he would try calling him. I asked him to let me know what the result is. Of course I have heard nothing back though.
I understand that Drs are busy. Stretched beyond what they should be expected to do with insurance companies, big healthcare conglomerates making them see 5 patients more an hour than they have time for, get caught up in emergencies/whatever. But that is NOT MY PROBLEM. I've been through all kinds of things like this in the past as well,& this is nothing (heck one Dr KILLED my best friend because they didn't know what they were doing). So this pales in comparison. But sheesh, I find this whole thing so wrong; and cannot trust ANYTHING now in this report at all.....what am I paying the DRs for? How can I trust them to make life/death decisions when they can't even get an echo report right??
Anyone have something like this happen to them? What did you do, or would you do, in this situation?? Sorry to ramble on, I actually left out some things, but thought if nothing else some of you might find this entertaining.
I got a new cardiologist this year (long story with what happened with the last one which I will not bore you with at this point).
My first visit with new cardio Dr was over the phone earlier this year as an introductory visit, then had an in person visit 1st week in July.
New cardio Dr. wanted to do an echocardiogram to check on my heart after the stent (had not had that done yet, sounded like a good idea). I was going to get it done around here closer to where I live/more convenient but he recommended that they do it in his office instead because that way he said will read the results himself rather than have to rely on a different Dr to interpret the data.
So I hung out (went to lunch actually & came back) and had it done in his office, they squeezed me in that afternoon. Dr told me that regardless of the echo result he wanted to see me again in October, and probably have a nuclear stress test as further followup after that visit.
Next morning someone in his office called and told me that the result was "no change since last echo in 2015". Good news I guess but was not sure.
I was not given a copy of the report or any other details. I was curious if my ejection fraction had improved because prior to the stent last Fall it had dropped from 55% down to around 45%. Wondered if it had recovered any after the blockage was lessened.
I had to see my PCP the very next day so I mentioned to him then that I just had an echo done but was not given any details other than "no change since 2015" etc etc. So he pulled up the report & printed me out a copy, and we went over that ourselves. First thing was good news, according to that my ejection fraction went up to 60%!!! WOW! Did not think that was even possible,
But then I noticed multiple things that had me scratching my head which I pointed out to the PCP. It appears that this report may not even be for me or at very least has incorrect data in it from God knows where!
In the section of the report with the heading of AORTIC VALVE it says this:
- The aortic valve is tri-leaflet
- The valve is calcified with restriction of motion
- The aortic valve has moderate stenosis and mild regurgitation
- The peak gradient is 44mm HG and the mean gradient is 24mm
It then goes on to say other things etc etc etc etc.
Right away I spotted that the first 3 points above make no sense, at least not to me.:
- My aortic valve is most certainly NOT "tril-leaflet". It is a mechanical valve with 2 swinging doors. And my original valve which I do not even have any more was only bicuspid in the first place. Why does the report say it is tricuspid???
- My aortic valve is mechanical. I asked my PCP - can it even GET cholesterol deposits (isn't it engineered NOT TO?) and if it can how can it calcify in ONLY 5 YEARS (to which he had no answer)?
- Plus - how could the valve have STENOSIS (not open properly)????? WOULDN'T THAT BE BIG DEAL FOR A MECHANICAL VALVE??? That would mean the valve itself has some kind of defect, maybe it is friggin' BROKEN????
The PCP agreed with me that things in the report did not add up and said I should discuss it with the cardiologist. I asked him to please bring it up with him as a Dr instead of me because of all the bad past experiences I have had with Drs who do not like patients pointing out problems/errors/etc to them. So he said he would do that.
Additionally I noticed that the name of the Dr who read the echo and produced the report is someone I never heard of; it was NOT the cardiologist who told me to have it done at his office because that way HE will be the one to read it! Instead it is probably just someone on staff in radiology (??). So that to me is a strike against this new cardiologist right there (he told me to have the test there since that way he will be the one to read the data, yet he doesn't).
Fast fwd to about 2 weeks ago, I had to see the PCP again, without all the details why will just say that the PCP is suspecting some new heart probs, wants me to get nuclear stress test NOW rather than wait and wants me to see the new cardio Dr now rather than wait until my appt in October. I asked him what happened when he talked to my new cardiologist about the questionable echo test as per our last visit. He gave me a blank stare. He completely 4got about the echo report problems that we talked about the previous month. And this is a Dr I actually like and have faith in. Sigh. So I explained it to him again, we talked about it etc. He said he would look into it and I said I was going to do some research as well, and bring it up to the cardiologist myself in case he didn't have time.
So I reached out to On-X for some answers. In the past they helped me greatly clear up and clarify some things which my previous cardiologist & his staff were clueless about. I spoke with someone there very knowledgeable and helpful and he confirmed that my suspicions about the report being fishy were correct, the valve is NOT trileaflet, it cannot get cholesterol deposits or calcify (it is inert), makes no sense to say the valve has stenosis etc etc. Additionally he also pointed out that the info in the last point I cited above (peak gradient 44 and mean gradient 24) did not sound right either (my particular valve should have around a 14mm pressure gradient).
So I contacted my PCP and let him know what On-X said and he reacted in a way which I very much appreciated, which was something like "What utter garbage!!! I am going to contact Dr X (cardiologist) right away and bring all this to his attention, and tell him that they owe you a new echo at their expense!!!". Over a week later I asked how that went (I am seeing the cardio Dr next week) and the PCP told me that he left emails for him but he never responded! But that he would try calling him. I asked him to let me know what the result is. Of course I have heard nothing back though.
I understand that Drs are busy. Stretched beyond what they should be expected to do with insurance companies, big healthcare conglomerates making them see 5 patients more an hour than they have time for, get caught up in emergencies/whatever. But that is NOT MY PROBLEM. I've been through all kinds of things like this in the past as well,& this is nothing (heck one Dr KILLED my best friend because they didn't know what they were doing). So this pales in comparison. But sheesh, I find this whole thing so wrong; and cannot trust ANYTHING now in this report at all.....what am I paying the DRs for? How can I trust them to make life/death decisions when they can't even get an echo report right??
Anyone have something like this happen to them? What did you do, or would you do, in this situation?? Sorry to ramble on, I actually left out some things, but thought if nothing else some of you might find this entertaining.
