Echo Exam

[Whamo]

   I took an echo exam yesterday.  If you can do it, do the treadmill test.  The echo exam with drugs that speed up our system is very painful.  I did mine yesterday.  I passed the test but it was an ordeal.

[Simon Dog]

The treadmill with the radioactive tracer and scan is far more sensitive than the treadmill alone.

[Charlie B53]

For me, taking the treadmill was a serious whipping!  Dr and Nurses all had to hang on to me to keep me up and on the machine.

Afterwards they kept telling me to sit down and rest.  I couldn't.  I didn't think I would EVER get back up again.

A couple of weeks later I had my Triple By-Pass.  After that, as I was being Discharged, the Surgeon told me I had what they called a "Widow Maker".  The main artery on the backside of the heart, when it fails there is NO survival. 

I was very fortunate.

Since than I've had a couple of those chemical induced stress tests.  Yea, the drugs do speed up your heart and you will break out in a sweat.  It ain't nothing compared to that treadmill with a heart that is about to fail.

[smartcookie]

My grandfather had a heart attack due to a 100% blockage to the widow maker artery.  He survived it, but has never been the same since.  That was probably 10 years ago now.

[lainiepop]

I didn't have to do that? Not sure my dad did either or he might have due to his age?