Good report, except for the enlarged heart -- sounds a great deal like my experience a couple years ago.
The echo cardiogram will tell all -- including thickened walls from chronic high BP, viral damage (which was my problem), and any valve issues. If you get a chance to watch (sometimes you do, sometimes you don't get to see the screen), look for how the ventricles contract. Normal "ejection fraction" -- the fraction of the blood actually pumped out each beat -- is 55% to 60%. You should see the left ventricle "collapse in" on itself and squeeze the blood out nicely, with the walls becoming convex toward the cavity. When I was really sick, my left ventricle looked like a water balloon and wasn't contracting very well at all, and was well above normal size. Everything else was fine, and I had good turbulence, so no blood thinners. Last time I was in, just about two years ago, all was back to near normal. Peter _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
