Seriously good news.
Been to the doctor. Done all the tests. The heart scan six months ago
described my condition as "advanced coronary heart disease. They put me in
the 90th percentile; meaning only 10 percent of American males my age had
hearts in worse condition than mine. I think I reported it as 80th
percentile earlier, but I looked at the results again, and it's 90th
percentile. That sounds pretty crummy.
Well, the good news is, I did the Thallium Treadmill Torture Test again, to
define function, and the results are absolutely unqualified. I have full
function with no flow restrictions. My heart goes to the calculated maximum
of 160 and I can hold it there for the three minutes they need to do their
tests. I have no idea how they can describe my arteriosclerosis as so
severe, yet there is no impairment of the flexibility and flow.
No matter.
Judy expressed her concern that the first symptom of heart disease is often
sudden death. They assured her that I didn't fall in that category at all.
When it is time for me to have symptoms, it will most likely be exercise
induced chest pain. If I will stop exercising when that happens and go see
a doctor, they'll just find the restriction, put in a stent to restore the
flow, and send me on my way. How cool is that???? I'll take that over a
trip to the morgue every time!!!!
And there is more. Progress on the medication front. I am such a
medication weenie that I struggle with everything. Several years ago, I
gave up taking blood pressure medicine and managed to get my blood pressure
down without medication. I haven't had a blood pressure pill in a couple
years. That left me with a cholesterol issue still to deal with. Again,
the medication weenie couldn't deal with the prescription drugs and gave up
on them. I looked for every possible food to eat that might lower
cholesterol and put them into my diet. I found some herbal supplements from
New Zealand, started fish oil and garlic tablets, put almonds back in my
diet, eat the occasional piece of dark chocolate, and drink an occasional
glass of red wine, or drink a little grape juice with dinner.
I eliminated ice cream, cheese, and hamburger meat. I had already
eliminated most bread.
Cholesterol dropped from 240 to 204. Exercise keeps the HDL strong. My
risk ratios have dropped out of the danger range. Unmedicated. No energy
compromises.
It's all good.
