Update

Blood pressure is better than it's ever been.  Right in the butter zone.  Because my primary physician spotted an anomaly in my EKG, he sent me to a cardiologist.

The cardiologist put me on a device called a "Holter Monitor" which I wear for 48 hours doing my normal daily routine and it monitors my heart during that time.  After the 48 hours, I return the unit where a specialist reads the EKG and gives the doctor the results.

Then I had to go in to do a stress test or an "Echo Stress Echo."  Here, the technician wires up your chest and takes an EKG and  sonogram of your heart at rest before he puts you on a treadmill.  Then after the treadmill, he takes another sonogram and EKG reading.  Unfortunately, because my heart is so deep in my chest (probably due to the extra baggage I'm carrying) he couldn't get a full picture of my heart before the treadmill portion.  He was only able to get about 90% of it.  So we had to abort the ESE and go another route.  They'll now have to perform a nuclear stress test.  This is where they give you an IV containing a radioactive solution (very mild today, but I was told that it wasn't so long ago that the amount of solution they inject in you used to set off all sorts of bells & whistles at airports) and take a picture of your heart using a special camera that detects the solution.  This new nuclear test will be scheduled for sometime in October.

A few days after the aborted stress test, I get a call back from the cardiologist's office with the results of my 48-hour Holter Monitor:  It came back NORMAL.  Great news, right?  Except that when the technician aborted the stress test, he did mention that my EKG reported an abnormality which required further investigation.  But it could be several things, it could be a simple genetic issue, it could be gerd, or it could be a lack of oxygen to the heart.


Meanwhile, I'm walking 5 days a week and sticking to Weight Watchers.  But I'm having a really tough time losing more weight.  I've lost 10 pounds and I seem to be hovering around there.

The hardest part of all this is waiting to be diagnosed.  Why do I feel a tightness in my chest sometimes?  Bear in mind, that the tightness is VERY slight.  I barely notice it.  And there are no other symptoms.  If I were having a full-out heart attack, I'd expect cold sweats, shortness of breath, headache, shooting pain down my left arm, or any combination of the above.  But nothing else other than the tightness.

I have a follow-up with my primary physician sometime tomorrow to discuss my BP.  I think he'll be very pleased.  Maybe he can help shed some light on what might be happening to me because I'm not getting much from the cardiologist so far.  I haven't even met the actual doctor I was referred to - just a nurse, a student doctor, an associate doctor, and a technician.