This
past week, I went in to see him after 6 months (since last November),
which was the longest hiatus between two visits since my surgery. For
the next appointment, he wants to see me in 4 months.
We
looked over the new cholesterol numbers which are overall good, as
shown below.
You
will notice that a couple of things are still off, though:
- the LDL (“bad” cholesterol) is a little high
- the HDL (“good” cholesterol) is too low
- as a result of the latter one, the cholesterol/ HDL ratio is still high
He
is not thrilled with these numbers, although I am over the moon with
them. If you don't remember, my LDL used to hang out in the 400's for
years. To see the total cholesterol at NORMAL values is something I
have not hoped to see in my life. But here it is.
If
you want to see what drug and exercise regimen I currently am on,
please visit this page:
http://livingwithfh.blogspot.com/2016/07/my-current-drug-regimen-and-diet.html
He
talked to me about this new drug (also an injection, like Praluent)
which is now in clinical research. It has not been approved yet, but
he wants me to do the trial, to get that little bit of LDL down and
that HDL up. I told him I would like to read about this new drug, but
I made no commitments so far.
We
also talked about my heart health. My blood pressure is still on its
own internal roller-coaster. It can be as high as 150 over 50 one
day, and as low as 110 over 35, another. Either way, the gap between
the two numbers is what worries me. And the cardiologist. He still
thinks that I have aortic insufficiency which is what he believes
causes the weird blood pressure. This could also be worsened by the
new aortic valve which is still a bit leaking ('mildly').
I
have a couple of new symptoms, too.
I
feel what I call a “claw” in my chest, over my heart almost
daily. I think it might be in the chest wall, but I cannot be sure
100%. It feels like a sharp claw that just grabs hold of my chest. No
idea where it's coming from. It does not feel anything like my angina
which I had often right before the surgery. This is very different.
I
still wonder if over a year from surgery now, my nerves are just now
coming back into my chest wall, and I can feel more what went on in
there. It just feels weird. The doctor did not seem concerned about
this symptom and he said he could say positively that it is not
heart related. He said it could be surgery related, but not heart
related.
Another
newer symptom is that my feet and legs seem to swell quite badly some
days, especially in the evenings. I had swelling before, but it was
very rare. Now it seems to be a pretty regular event. The swelling is
painful, and I cannot quite pinpoint what causes it. He did a blood
test for this, which is supposed to see if your heart is under
stress, or to indicate whether you are in heart failure. The test is
called a BNP
(http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/brain-natriuretic-peptide-bnp-test#1).
The
normal levels for the BNP are under 190. Mine came back as
285. Always the overachiever, of course.
I
am really worried about this, because coupled with the weird blood
pressure and the fact that I tire easily when I exercise even a
little bit, I am wondering if my heart is working right.
He
did not seem to worry about this number, either. He said the value of
285 is “in no man's land”, and if the number would have been
higher than 400, then, he would have known for sure that the heart is
under severe stress. This number just shows, to him, that I have
either aortic insufficiency, which he already suspected, or that my
heart is still under the stress from the surgery last year. Either
way, this is not why my feet swell up and this is not high enough to
indicate heart failure.
I
am trying to learn more about this test just because it puzzles me
that it's so (seemingly, to me), high. If they give you a range, it
must mean something, right?!
I
have read that severe infections can also elevate the BNP, and I am
currently trying to heal a stubborn UTI which seems to resist
antibiotics, so I wonder if this threw off the number some, too. I
have no baseline for this number, so I am not sure what it was before
my surgery, or right after it. He said he will repeat this test in
four months, when he sees me next.
Till
then, continue with life as usual, I guess.
