affairs of the heart

It was suggested by my sisters recently that I am crap at letting people know what's going on with me. (Specifically they were giving me shit about not telling them when I was in the hospital the last couple of times. I think what I said was, "I will if you will." But anyway.)

I'm turning 50 on my next birthday. That is apparently the starting gate for a whole bunch of routine testing on the various bits and pieces that tend to wear out after a half a century of use. So I got sent for a mammogram, an ECG, and there is apparently a colon cancer screen coming in the mail[1].

I've had dozens of ECGs. They're standard procedure before any kind of surgery or invasive medical procedure and I've had bucketloads of those. They lie me down, stick some wires on me with some kind of conductive glob, look at the screen and say, "OK, you're done." It's the least stressful test on the planet.

Except this time they called me up to come and repeat it.

So of course I asked why. They saw a change since my last one. It's probably nothing. They want to verify it and if it's still there they'll send me for a stress test. So I went and got another ECG.

Last week I got the call to make the appointment for the stress test.

I KNOW I should not be stressing out about this. My cholesterol and blood pressure are rock stars. My blood sugar is perfect. I have never had the slightest indication of any problems with my circulatory system. My doctor is just being extra cautious about this because she knows that two of my immediate family members have had heart attacks in the last 12 months.

But I can't stop chewing on it. Probably because two of my immediate family members have had heart attacks in the last 12 months.

This is the exact opposite of helpful, isn't it?



[1]I have no idea. I'm not sure I want to.