Progress?

Here I am, nearly five years from when I had my first symptom, still trying to figure out what is wrong with me. They say the problem with socialist health care is that it is slow and inefficient. I wonder if people who say that have ever tried to go to a doctor for anything more than a cough. I wonder if those people have ever tried to see a specialist. I takes months to see some doctors, and when you finally see them they spend less than five minutes with you and send you a huge bill.

I'll get into my political view on social health care later, for now suffice it to say I'm not necessarily advocating such a system because I think there are more options to be considered. But one thing I will say now is that the system we have now is broken, and needs to be fixed.

I had seen a doctor and decided to investigate my heart as a possible cause for the brain episodes I was having. He could not order a loop monitor himself for some reason, or another ultrasound, so he referred me to yet another cardiologist who could. This appointment took about 6 weeks to arrive. During this time, I kept a written record of every time I had one of these episodes, what I was doing at the time, what I had had to eat that day, and as much more information as I could think of. I was going to come prepared.

When my appointment arrived, the doctor just glanced at the list I had made and mostly ignored it. He spent about 45 seconds with me and ordered the tests that my family doctor already wanted me to get. This was an ultrasound and a long term holter monitor. I couldn't even get the holter monitor immediately - I had to wait several more weeks.

Finally I got the holter monitor. My test was to be two weeks long. I would wear the monitor and push a button every time I had one of these episodes. It would then record thirty seconds before and one minute after. During the two week period nothing happened. Frustrating, considering how much this test is probably going to cost me.

I pushed the button a few times during my usual heart weirdness stuff, but did not have one of these brain episodes - which is what we were trying to catch. At the end of two weeks I took the monitor back in and told the lady at the desk about my disappointment. She told me I could wear it two weeks longer at no additional cost if I had not caught what we were looking for. Score!

Nearing the end of my second two weeks, nothing had happened worth recording. Two days before I turned it in however, I was sitting up in bed and had one of these brain episodes. It was very minor - I mean on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst I'd ever experienced this was a 1. I almost didn't push the button but I figured, what the hell - its not like I have anything else.

I turned in my monitor and went on my way. I waited another couple of weeks for my follow up appointment with the cardiologist.

At my follow up appointment (which wasn't even with the cardiologist - but his assistant), I was told they caught something on the monitor. It was ventricular tachycardia - a particular type of arrhythmia that originates in the ventricle and causes your heart the beat very quickly (between 100 to 200 beats per minute). They had caught six beats in a row, and they consider anything over three to be this condition.

You can hear the heart beats when you call in a recording from your holter monitor. I remember hearing the quick beats when I had called it in, but I wonder when it actually correlates to me pressing the button. I wonder if it syncs up with the brain episode I felt. At any rate, its the best lead we have so far.

Ventricular Tachycardia is a serious, and potentially life threatening issue. I read up on it and learned that it could lead to sudden drops in blood pressure which could explain the brain episodes I was having. If that was indeed the cause, then it was happening much more severely than what they recorded. I don't know if that means longer tachycardia, quicker beats, or what - but definitely more severe.

I can't tell you how excited I was to finally hear something. To finally have them find something worth investigating. I mean, it sucks - there is something wrong with my heart that might kill me - but at least they're not going to tell me to not worry about it anymore. I wonder how many people die because they're not wiling to continue investigating and pushing against doctors for the many years it takes to get them to pay attention to you.

The cardiologist's assistant ordered an MRI. For the first time since this whole thing started, they actually even made me a priority. I had the MRI two or three days after the follow up visit, and another appointment with an even more specialized specialist a few weeks after that. They got me in a full month and a half before his next available appointment (thank you cute girl who works at the desk there).

The MRI was an interesting experience. One thing that I've noticed about the medical profession is that people don't like to explain things to you. They don't like to tell you what they're thinking, if they don't know whats wrong with you, or what is about to happen to you during some procedure. The MRI was no exception. I was basically given two IVs and told to hold still. Then a man over a speaker kept telling me to hold my breath. That was about it. I don't know how much this is going to cost me yet, but it's okay because I heard MRIs are really cheap. /sarcasm

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