While I am not prone to rust, the status of my heart has been called into question lately. Yesterday I had an appointment to see a cardiologist regarding my recent diagnostics. To recap: I had an Army physical for the purpose of enlisting in the National Guard. The Army physician looked at the chest x-ray and thought he saw an enlarged heart. While this problem in chest x-rays is not uncommon, he thought it best to have a secondary diagnostic done to rule out an enlarged heart. So I had an echocardiogram (ECG) done and the interpretation of the ECG said that my heart was not pumping up to snuff (50% against a normal range of 55-70%). After seeing the interpretation of the ECG the Army physician suggested a thallium stress test. So, that brings us up to yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon I saw my cardiologist. Before the cardiologist even saw me I had an electrocardiogram (EKG). After asking some background medical questions, Dr. Bessen (the cardiologist) said, "Let's look at the ECG." After looking at the ECG he proclaimed that he could see no abnormality. By his calculation, my heart was working normally and pumping blood well within the normal range. So it turns out that this has been much ado about nothing. So, just like the Tin Man, it turns out that I was doing fine all the time. Going further, Dr. Bessen said that, while he could go ahead and order the stress test, he saw no medical need for it or other diagnostics to be done.


Thanks to those of you who have been thinking about me and/or praying for me. I am a firm believer in the power of prayer.