Adventures in CardiologistLand

Hi all, I went to my Cardiologist appointment yesterday morning and I am still shaking my head in amazement. The nurse who called me in and set me up in a room told me to take off my top and bra and put on one of those lovely paper gowns,open side at the front. "What about my pants? I don't want to do the treadmill test in my jeans." She replied that I was not scheduled for a treadmill test and off she went leaving me to wonder how in the hell they were gonna test my heart if I did not do the treadmill test. The lovely blue paper gown might have fit someone who wears a size L. I have not been that size in years. Luckily, she had also left a paper drapesheet which I used for both modesty and warmth. I did not have to wait long before the cardiologist came in. He seemed like a nice enough fellow, direct, good eye contact, lots of questions about my health. He listens to my heart and lungs. Tells me my lungs sound good. Yahoo I ask him why I was not having the treadmill test and he tells me a story about a very large man who had previously done the treadmill test and had broken one of their treadmills. So I immediately think, great, they have crappy treadmills that I probably won't feel safe using. He also tells me that most people my size are not able to use a treadmill. So I tell him that I spend 20 minutes, twice a week on a treadmill at the gym and then I do 20 minutes of laps in the pool. His eyebrows go up, he looks impressed. Asks about my knees and back. I tell him they are fine as long as I hold on to the handles/bars on the treadmill. I ask what other method they would use to check someone's heart and he tells me they do some type of dye test into the tissues, but that at my size the dye would probably not even reach my heart muscle anyway. What the f??? I think to myself. What kind of test results am I gonna get from this guy? My family doctor can listen to my heart!! I tell him I want the treadmill test so he goes out and talks to his nurse and comes back and tells me to go see her about it. Thanks alot Mr. Cardiologist specialist. The nurse schedules my treadmill test for today at 3:30pm so I am appropriately thankful, gracious and kind. LOL By the time I get back on the bus, I am thinking these guys are absolutely crazy to not have appropriate equipment and tests for larger sized people. I have every right to be tested properly and it really ****** me off that just because they don't have the appropriate equipment and tests, I end up with sub-standard health care. My family doctor referred me to this cardiologist and I will be sure to tell him how unprepared they are to test larger sized people. Thank God for OH and for self-responsibility. Without my knowledge of what goes on at the cardiologist I would have walked out of there thinking they had done whatever they needed to do to ensure my heart was healthy enough for surgery. I will let you all know how the treadmill test works out. LOL Janice

Hi Janice, Apparently your Cardiologist is as bright as the one in Kelowna was. Yours would have sent me over the edge with the largeman broken treadmill theory. Could it not been that the treadmill was shot anyways. He was quite unprofessional sharing that juicy tidbit. Talk about insulting. Hope your test goes well today. Keep us posted. Looked at your new page and thought does the color purple not represent intuition? Great choice my spiritual friend! Sarah

Hello Sarah, Yahoo. I did not break the treadmill. They had it up to a 10%grade at 2.5 miles/hour. They started it in a flat position and graduated up to 5% then 10%. It was going at quite the pace and I got my heart rate up to 155. I have never gotten it up past 139 at the Rec Centre. LOL Unfortunately, I will have to be patient about getting the test results. The girl doing the testing did ask if I had ever gone for an EKG and I had one of those done about 3 years ago. I have to call the cardiologist's office in the morning with Dr. Meneghetti's fax number and let them know that I have a booked appt for the 30th that might need to be rescheduled, depending on the results of this cardio test. I am not sure what the color purple represents. I have never "googled" that. LOL I do know that I have been drawn to purple things since I was very young. Hope you are doing well Sarah. ttysoon Janice

Hi Janice, Wow, what an eventful day! It's amazing how people think......even educated and trained individuals are so ignorant.......Good for you that you stuck up for yourself and told him a thing or two. I bet he was surprised when you told him what you can do. I find it really confusing why we are all given different tasks to do when we see specialists as I was not asked to do the treadmill? Maybe because I didn't ask? Who knows? Go figure. I hope to see you on the 30th at Dr. M's office. Good luck with the results and keep us posted. Sim