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Who’s the Man?

 They said they had to get my heart rate to 130 or higher to get a good nuclear scan.  153 would be the maximum for my age.  Okay then, 154 is the goal.  We spent 14 minutes on the treadmill to get me there.  They injected the marker fluid at 153.  I got all the way to 157 before they slowed down the treadmill.  It felt great.  No pain.  No blips on the EKG and blood pressure monitors.  Nothing but healthy on the nuclear scans.  This is the best stress test I’ve ever had.  I was above my calculated maximum heart rate and when they slowed down the treadmill, I still had more.  I could have kept going!  Everything about my heart looks as healthy as it possibly can.  They sent me on my way with No Restrictions and said to check back with them in two years.  Two years!  Every time before they’ve told me to come back in six months, or be careful with the chest pain and remember to take my nitroglycerine.  What a difference between then and now.  Whatever twinge I felt last Sunday, and lightheadedness last Tuesday, wasn’t my heart.  The news couldn’t have been any better. We took a while to bask in the glow before I went back to work.  When I had my first heart issues I had four blockages, needed three stents, and was continuing to accumulate plaque fast.  It was only a year and a half until I needed the next round of stents.  They gave me a choice, basically: take a Statin drug or die.  I didn’t like the choice as presented.  I’ve taken Statin drugs and that’s not an option for me no matter the consequences. I did some research on the internet and found there were other opinions out there about heart health.  Many people share my adverse reaction to Statin drugs like Lipitor.  I filtered through the information and misinformation.  I made my best guess.  I settled on a regimen of nutritional supplements from a company in New Zealand called XtendLife.  I take a lot of pills every day now; about 20, but none of them are prescription.  All these pills aren’t cheap, and there were no guarantees that this was going to work.  Anecdotal results, not clinical trials. These stress test results are so spectacular because they mean I have accumulated no new plaque in the last three years!  They gave me two choices and I found a third.  The supplements I’m taking might really be working.  I might have found a long-term solution for my heart. Wow.  We’re still stunned. 
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Work update

 I’m here in Denver helping us get through the sudden departure of our Office Manager.  I think we’re doing well.  We’ve figured out most of what the prior Office Manager’s job was.  We hired a new Office Manager, Nancy.  She brings experience and a fresh perspective.  She should be great.  She doesn’t start until April 8th, but we’ve been doing so well keeping up with all the stuff we need to do, we should be fine until then. In fact, we’ve been doing so well, I began to worry that maybe this wasn’t all about me anymore, so I decided to feel a little “off” on Tuesday.  I don’t want to be that guy who ignored the warning signs, so I went to our Cardiologist in Boulder for a checkup and that got all the attention focused exactly back where it should be. The Cardiologist did an EKG and a Cardiac Enzyme blood test and declared me “normal”.  Shows what they know.  We’re going to do a treadmill cardiac stress test tomorrow as a follow-up.  You can imagine how the conversation with Judy went about that.  Mention the word “cardiac” and just try to guess how long she is going to stay in South Texas while I’m here in Colorado.  I picked her up at the airport this afternoon.  I get 24 hour supervision the rest of my time here. We had a nice evening with Matt and Lindsay and the boys.  Judy got lucky and they fed us Pizza!  She didn’t even have to wait for me to get home to get more pizza. Tomorrow morning it’s me against the machine.  We’ll let you know who wins.  If I win, I get to go home and back to work.  If the machine wins, it’s straight to the Cath Lab.  
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Saturday

 I went on an eagle quest at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.  I saw lots of cool stuff, but I didn’t see any eagles.  I spent the afternoon at our daughter’s house for kids, grandkids, steak fajitas, and cheesecake. Sunday, I went on a Rosy-finch quest. I did my research.  Rosy-finches had been reported in the town of Ward the day before.  I’ve never seen a Rosy-finch.  They’re here in the high country in the winter and I’m not.  The town of Ward is at 9,500 feet. I drove up Boulder Canyon.  By the time I got to Nederland it was snowing hard.  The highway turned slushy then straight to undisturbed snow pack.  I turned around and went right back into town. I turned off the highway onto snow covered side streets and prowled for bird feeders.  I found one, parked right across the street from it, and started watching.  Nice high-country birds.  Steller’s Jays, Chickadees, a Red-breasted Nuthatche, Dark-eyed Juncos, Pine Siskins, but no Rosy Finches.  Didn’t expect a Rosy finch there anyway.  Nederland is only at 8,000 feet. Well, after an hour, the snow let up, the sun came out (a little), the highway cleared up, and off I went to Ward. I located two different feeders I could watch from the road in Ward.  Between them I added Downy Woodpecker, Clark’s Nutcracker, and Mountain Chickadee to the list, but no Rosy-finch.  It snowed hard and the wind picked up. I still had time, and the highway was okay, so I headed off to the Fawnbrook Inn in Allenspark.  They have a feeder there I’ve been to before.  Not much chance of a Rosy-finch though.  Allenspark is only at 8,500 feet.  I did add Hairy Woodpecker to the list and got both White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatches though. Back to Ward for one more shot.  Watching a feeder through my binoculars (I had talked to both the homeowners and gotten permission.), I saw two male and one female Pine Grosbeaks!  I had only seen that bird once before, years ago.  Then a Common Redpoll popped up onto the feeder.  That bird wasn’t even on my radar.  Life bird! And finally, last new bird of the day, a Brown-capped Rosy-finch.  I got everything I wanted and more. A quick trip down Lefthand Canyon to Boulder.  A walk in a Boulder Mountain Park for my exercise for the day.  (It felt good to get out of the car to stretch my legs.  It was still cold and windy, but at least I was out of the snowstorm.)  Then off to my daughter’s house for another visit and some good Chinese takeout. A very good day.