Such fun!

Life can be so interesting (and frightening). A few weeks ago, I wasn't feeling well.

As a precaution, my doctor decided to do an echocardiogram. While it appeared that there was nothing cardiac involved with my feeling sick, he wanted to play it safe.

Well, my sick feelings had nothing to do with my heart. That was the good news.

The bad news (or maybe it's good news, since it has been found) is that there may be something else wrong.

Now, my obesity aside, I have no risk factors for heart disease. My cholesterol is low, the balance is good, my "cardiac enzymes" are negative, my blood pressure is good, etc. Yes, kids, you can be 38 years old and fat and still be in good health. Granted, being fat is certainly a risk, but I'm working on losing weight anyhow.

My doctor and the cardiologists who are now picking over me can't put their fingers on why anything should be wrong. Still, there it is--something doesn't look right in all of these tests.

The echocardiogram showed something troubling, so today I went for a stress test, as well as something where they inject radioactive dye into my blood and then use a giant machine that looks kinda CAT-scanish (but moves around a lot) to see how my blood is moving.

So they seem to be confirming what they saw with the echo. It seems that the "apex" of my heart (somewhere near the bottom, actually, which is interesting considering the word apex) isn't showing good blood flow.

The good news is that the main chambers of my heart are pumping just fine. So they don't think I'm in imminent danger ("Just one last stand, General Custer. Then you can go home.").

What's scary is that they have no real handle on why this is happening. It doesn't fit with being obesity-related, because it's just this one area (and besides, the cholesterol and such are low, as I mentioned, so there shouldn't be buildup), it doesn't fit with much of anything else they've found. Actually, there's nothing else they've found.

It could be a congenital defect that has been hiding there all my life. Since all other tests show my heart functioning well (and always have), there's no way to know. One concern would be that some other coronary artery disease could be lurking, so there are more tests in my future.

The funny thing is that my little episode of a few weeks ago has turned out to be a good thing. Whatever the outcome, it's best to know of these things and deal with them if they need treatment. So, even though this actually has nothing to do with my illness of a few weeks back, it was that very episode that sent me down this road. I guess, considering that it did, it's just as well that it all happened.

So why I am I so worried?