Stress Testing - or - The Cardiac Loose Ends

It has been a while since I posted, mostly because there isn't much news, even though there has been activity. Yesterday I went in and had a cardiac stress test, something I had always wanted to do since seeing people on TV hooked up to machines monitoring everything, breathing through a tube, and running on a treadmill. That should show you if anything is wrong with your heart! In my case, this is part of the post cardiac arrest clean-up; making sure I'm ok from a cardiologist's perspective. The two nurse / technitions administering the test said I did very well, much better than they expected from a cancer patient who just had a coronary. For me, it validates the "I'm feeling just fine" that I've been telling everyone.

I have been exercising at Mayo's cardiac rehab center. It is tightly monitored, all cardio for me for now, and not very fun or engaging. I'd prefer the Healthy Living Center gym much more. But I go to the cardiac rehab center and do 20 minutes or so on a bike. I am, I believe, the only recovering cardiac patient with virtually no heart disease, the only one close to an ideal weight, and probably one of the youngest people there. An interesting place that I won't miss much at all.

I go in and see the cardiologist on Feb 1st. I'm hoping I'll get a green light to proceed with anything else I want to do in terms of exercise and activity. We shall see.

I have a scan on the 26th, and my next chemo appointment on the 27th. I am bit apprehensive about both the side effects of the new cocktail of drugs and the length of time between chemo treatments and what that means for tumor growth. The latter we shall see with the scan, the former with the few days after the 27th.

Still, it is all pretty good. I'm enjoying my free time as much as I can. I finished grading one classes finals and am getting ready to teach a second class at Cardinal Stritch University, this one a Stats 1 class (the last was Finite Math - a prep for Stats 1). And I'm going up to the cities to play in a chess league match and hang around at coffee houses where the baristas and most customers have unnatural hair color, multiple body piercings, and really cool tattoos. My idea of a nice afternoon!



You have a good time as well,
Chris (and Julia)