Echocardiogram

I had a transthoracic echocardiogram on Monday 20-May, as a followup to my cardiac diagnostics. They wanted to check on that enlargement of the ascending aorta, as well as the aortic valve calcification. Short story: Everything is stable.

Normally, this is a “no stress” test. It’s just an ultrasound of the heart. However, in this particular case, the sonographer just so happened to have the same first name as my recent abuser. As soon as she introduced herself, I started to panic. It’s a PTSD reaction. I knew then that’s what it was. After I was changed into the hospital gown, and lying down on the gurney, I took a few deep breaths and mostly got the panic under control.

As it turned out, the test included a series of “blow out your breath, hold it, breathe again” instructions, which gave me the opportunity to do some more deep breaths. I was doing fine by the time that was over. Then, she told me that she was going to have a nurse come in and insert an IV. I definitely wasn’t expecting that. Apparently she felt she needed some contrast to get some of the images required. So, she injected Lumason into my IV, and got the rest of her pictures.

“Overall heart function is in the low normal range. The ascending aorta is mildly dilated.” I’m to repeat this test “before the next office visit,” which is in January 2025. The order for the repeat echo was mailed to me 21-May. As soon as I have that in hand, I will look into scheduling that repeat echo. I was advised to be sure I schedule at least three months in advance, to ensure I can get in. I’ll schedule for early December if I can.

The journey continues.

Tags: Cardiac Health, Echocardiogram, Medical Care