Ready to Share

Well, I've been dropping some hints and making some changes, and some of you already know most of what I'm about to post. However, for some of you this will be new news. I didn't want to make this truly public until I had a little more information. After my follow up visit with my cardiologist last Friday, I feel like I have enough info to share.

I'll start with my physical from last October. Since we were doing a bunch of tests to check on several ailments, I decided to schedule a heart scan since there is a history of heart issues in my family. Even though insurance doesn't cover this type of diagnostic scan, it seemed like a good idea at my age. I got the results on Christmas Eve.

Moderate plaque burden (101-400). Moderate non-obstructive coronary artery disease highly likely.

That didn't seem ideal. After a quick Google search, I scheduled an appointment with a cardiologist. That was on January 2nd. That led to more tests and a follow up appointment last Friday.

While all that was happening, I decided to make some changes to my diet and exercise routine. You might have noticed some posts on Facebook.

Here's a quick summary of what's happened so far:

• Heart stress test came back with good results. No defibrillator required.
• Echocardiogram came back with good results. Nothing out of the ordinary.
• Cholesterol lowered from 133 to 102. Still some work to do.
• I've lost about 25 pounds so far this year. Still a fair amount of work to do.

The report the cardiologist wrote was positive:

Weight and lifestyle: He has been working with a weight specialist and nutritionist and has lost about 22–23 pounds since the beginning of the year. He is focused on maintaining the weight loss and continuing diet changes.

Plan: Continue lifestyle changes and current blood pressure treatment. Recheck cholesterol; if LDL is still not at goal in about 3 months, cholesterol-lowering medication may be considered. Seek medical care if new or concerning heart symptoms occur. Follow up in 1 year, or sooner if symptoms develop.

There area some specifics on another page on this blog I created called "By The Numbers". You can also read additional posts to get a more complete "story" by checking the posts I made in December, January and February. Finally, there is more info about heart disease in general on another page I created called "Heart Disease 101". I've learned some things over the past several months that you might find helpful yourself.

So, Becky and I begin a new journey. I plan to update this blog as events seem to dictate.

Thanks for reading!