Last Thursday I emailed BenG and asked permission to email DrB with Ben's wife's name as reference. Emailed DrB Thursday, and he replied with his pager and office appt number. Friday morning I called office to start appt process, was told there was a review process. Figured I'd hear back in abt 2 week. Went down the hall for tea, saw DrRavi, shared my DrB news, turns out DrB is also his cardiologist! And DrR likes him for open and scientific approach. I tentatively email DrB with DrR's recommendation to "say I speak highly of him", let DrB I called office to start appt process. Went home. Came to work Saturday morning and found email from DrB offering to see me Monday 8:15!! If I hadn't come to work, I would have missed this!
So OF COURSE I said yes and went. He's awesome! Best 75 mins of medical time spent. Here's a run-down, in and out of order and as I think of it. Nothing I could have done differently, if it's a SCAD. It happens to couch potatoes and athletes. He's going to review St Mary's imaging with a team of interventionists to be sure it's SCAD, and that things look the way they should. He's prescribing a blood pressure lowering med at a very low dose, since I'm motivated and aware of my body, if I can tolerate the side effects it might speed healing. Prescribing nitroglycerin for acute attacks, should another occur. Scheduling CT of pelvis, abdomen, and neck to screen for vascular disorders. Found out later he also wants an "echo". He will retest the cholesterol, says my LDL of 318 is "the highest he's seen". Says statins aren't proven to be of benefit yet for SCAD. Explained how a tear can form a second lumen in the artery, how it clogs the artery. Reviewed the cath lab report from Dr Thanigaraj with me and described the coronary artery vasculature, the branches and the proximal and distal and etc. Said genetic testing is "low yield", costs $5000 uninsured and as low as $100 with insurance and "discounts". Answered all questions. Was direct, wasn't wavering or evasive, solid answers, familiar with athletes and recommended the IronHeart Foundation. Stressed the need to just rest and recover right now, was encouraging in that I can come back to training and athletics if things heal up right. And best of all, he was affirming, said that I've "been through a lot, it's a lot to process" and that I look good. Why does that seem to hard for others to say? And why do I need to hear it?
Needless to say, I was immensely pleased after this. Got my blood drawn for the lipid panel, found out they could expedite the test to have it for my appt later today, went back to work. Busy day!
Later that afternoon appt with DrA. His asst was familiar with my story, apparently I was office news. Of course. DrA comes in with just a "wtf you doin' woman?!" look on his face, lol. No better way to describe it. Updated him on everything, he was mostly up to date already and knew about appt with DrB. We talked about the cholesterol numbers (new results not in yet), low carb/keto diet, his races and his fall on Greenrock, lol. He's supportive of the low carb and familiar with it, gawd bless that! He ordered a thyroid panel, just in case. Talked about Maffetone diet and training, maybe he means MAF for my upcoming cardiac rehab too? Told me about his experience in cardiac rehab after a valve replacement, how he covered 10 mins on the treadmill in his first appt and was told "never come back again" and "you just passed cardiac rehab". LOL!! Reminded me to not get discouraged by the potentially slow pace of rehab. What else... talked about dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol not being directly linked, but that cholesterol loves to stick to vessel damage, and I have vessel damage. Showed me an app he has for reading pubs for CME credits and his search history included MCT oil and fasting mimicking diet and more stuff I've been reading on myself. He showed me an article that indicated that MCT oil does NOT change blood lipids. Just last week I looked at MCT oil and decided against because it's saturate fats. He's going to send a note to DrB about my diet. Another Great appt for the day!!
On the way home, stopped for gas, and while stopped DrB called. My cholesterol numbers are the same: TG's in the 40-50, HDL in the 120 range, and LD still over 300. He's prescribing Crestor, and I get retested in 8 weeks. Jeezus Krist. I'm a mess.
He's also going to connect me to a nutritionist it sounds like. I'm working on the mental part of that. Trying to make sure I keep an open mind, don't go in defensive. I've spent so much time and research on my diet to have it thrown out so fast, but maybe something's gotta change!! So some stress there. I'm sure there will be more on this soon.
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