The follow up to my procedure is upon me. I sit and wonder what this visit will bring to my life. My previous appointment saved my life! However I am also cognisant of the fact,  the issue with my heart, a significant narrowing in one of the main arteries feeding the muscles in my heart, was discovered on a whim. The whim was to have some imaging tests on my heart, " as there was nothing to lose," given my family history, as the testing I had been subjected to indicated I was otherwise a fine physical specimen!

So here I am.

Before I get to see the specialist, I have to have more testing so he has all the information as to how I am doing post op. They are a repeat of the ones I had during my initial examination so they are familiar to me but no less daunting.

Daunting is probably a little melodramatic but unless you have had a stress test, bear with me. A stress test is not how a person copes with life. Hey there are prison cells, drink cabinets, divorce courts, methadone treatment clinics, truancy rate data and the like that can show you that one. A stress test is simply being wired up whilst you exercise. The exercise is walking on a treadmill at a designated rate which increases incrementally in both pace and incline over time. The wires inform the person sitting at a computer screen how your heart is performing.

Sounds easy!  If you are used to doing some exercise and watching TV from dawn to dusk is not listed as one of your main interests in life it should be...but it isn't. Maybe it is just me but walking on a treadmill is not natural. You have to hang on for a start which means you can't move your arms, your stance is not right, there is no air moving past you, the noise is irritating, and someone is not only watching you the whole time but talking to you. You are trying to do your best but these distractions do not make it easy.

The wiring up is intimidating and a trifle embarrassing. A very young attractive woman who seems to be about half my height and a third of my age clips things all over my near naked body. Yes fifty shades of  wanting to say " I was once young too you know and I looked great back then not like this weathered drooping soggy old biscuit. Once I could have once written a book adding several new chapters. "Sixty shades of Grey" not fifty,but I digress.

The worst part of this wiring up is when she has to place a wire around my waist and her arms can hardly reach around the circumference with her nose pressed very nearly in my navel. I am glad they are not taking photos as it would be hard to explain this to my wife.

The test starts and it is straight forward enough.

"Okay we are going to increase the speed and increase the incline okay?"

"Fine" and it is but the breathing rate increases. Later the question is again asked,  and  again... and again. I wish I had never started to share my experiences with them about life in the country. I make a note that next time I will ask the questions and listen to their replies.Walking and talking at a leisurely pace is fine but not under exertion. After about eleven minutes we stop. I am breathing a little, sweating a lot and thinking if I could just walk outside on a track say, it would be a walk in the park. Eleven minutes walking to me is just not an issue under normal circumstances but  this is their test under their conditions and it is harder than you think.

Stress ECG-eleven minutes. My pedometer tells me that equates to 1100 steps. My morning walk with the dog is around 5000 steps.

Now I am instructed to lie on my side whilst I continue to sweat and heave. A probe is passed over my chest to look at how my heart is working; an ultrasound.

By the time I am sitting across from the heart specialist I have regained my composure, almost. He checks the results and tells me good news.

"Your heart is performing well. There is no indication of any clots and closing of the stent that we  placed, it all looks good."

"So how long before the other arteries might need some work and what is the rate of restenosis of my stent?"

" We get you in every year to re do what we have done today and that will give us a pretty good idea of how your heart is going. I reckon we have probably bought you another 10 to 15 years before we have to worry."

I want to say that I felt fine before my procedure, I still feel fine, my tests we all good before and now but I still had an underlying problem that was only shown by imaging. I let it pass. Nothing worse than a precious patient.

He continues, " The other narrowings could close quickly or it could take years. There is nothing mathematical in how this all works but if we keep an eye on you regularly..."

"What about my blood results what more could I do to improve these? I have pretty much eliminated salt from my diet, I don't eat processed foods generally, I average around 16,000 steps a day at work, I have reduced my intake of saturated fat, I don't smoke..."

"Exercise is good"

"Can I over exercise?"

He ruminates for a time and says "Not generally and overall more is better."

I ask, " I have been on cholesterol lowering drugs and blood pressure reducing medication for two decades now. Have I just been wasting my money?"

His reply is measured, "If you hadn't been on the drugs this might have happened in your early fifties.
There are many unknowns. We know a lot and we know some things with great certainty but there are many factors and each person is different"

Any doctor who doesn't pretend to know everything has got my vote. I put other questions back in the box and decide to do more investigation of my own. Next time my questions will be more researched and specific.

Living with uncertainty. Isn't that what life is all about?

So I will do my own investigations;

• into exercise, what is good and how much is good.
• into diet.
• into salt intake
• into what else matters
• into what else does not matter

I will learn to cope with uncertainty.