The Doctor

So I start the year off on a health kick. As usual I ignore the advise not to start a diet or exercise regime without first consulting a physician. I mean really what is he going to say? Lose some weight. Stop eating so much. Stop eating so much fat, salt and sugar. Exercise more. You are overweight and your blood pressure is high. See, what do I need a doctor for? But the fact is that I'm getting older. I've been overweight for quite a while. I have a history of congenital heart disease and I've got it coming down the pipe from both sides of the family tree. All of that has been true for a while. What was new was the fact that I've gotten married. Kelly had made me promise to go and get checked out and she wasn't letting go of that. Also the dizziness that I've been experiencing on and off for the last few years was beginning to grow more frequent and the onsets were getting more severe.

So last week I trooped off to see Kelly's doctor. After the usual struggle with forms and such they took me in to read my vitals. The blood pressure machine wouldn't give them a reading and I made the comment that I had the same trouble when I bought one or used one at the drug store. There must be some problem reading my arm because they always gave an absurdly low heart rate. There was no way that could be real. They said that the doctor would take it manually in the exam room. So I went to the exam room and after awhile Dr. Selle came in and we did a history. I immediately liked the doctor. No white coat authority, just an intelligent two way conversation. We went through the my childhood history with my pacemakers and some of the things that I've been dealing with in the last couple of years. He congratulated me on losing twelve pounds in the last month and encouraged me to keep it up. He recommended that I read Michael Pollan's Food Rules (Which I did yesterday. Sound advise in a quick read). At the end he took my blood pressure. It was high. Higher than I like and higher than I expected. Still I did expect it to be high. What neither of us like was that he confirmed that my pulse was indeed pretty darn low. Like thirty beats per minute. So he broke out the EKG and that confirmed not only the low heart rate but a return of my childhood heart block. He had his staff make me the next available appointment across the hall at the cardiologist. Dr. Selle would call me that night after he had a chance to consult with the cardiologist and ask me not to drive or exercise until then. Since then I've pretty much been at home. It's like being sick but not feeling sick. It is a foolish feeling. 

So it looks like I'm probably getting a pacemaker again. I had several between the ages of four and twelve but haven't had one since. I could be wrong and they may interpret it another way but I really don't think so. I've spent the last couple of days preparing myself mentally for a procedure next week. And that’s where it stands right now. We’ll see what the next couple of days bring.