My mother is on my mind......

My mother has been on my mind a lot lately. You see she died of heart problems when she was only 58 years old. Her side of the family has a history of early deaths and heart problems. On Valentine's Day in 1990, she gave up her fight for life. She was undergoing a simple procedure on her heart, when the left side of it stopped working. I don't want to follow in her footsteps!

With my family history, I am doomed! Heart issues on my mother's side and cancer on my father's side. God knows that I would never want to be like my father, except for one thing! His heart health! Even with all of the cancer and lung problems, his heart was always strong. Please God, let him pass that on to me. He owes me that much!

Today, I underwent a CT Scan of the heart. Thank God for my daughter in law, Joanne. She is a nurse practitioner for my cardiologist, Dr. Maniar. Because she knew that I would be paranoid to have a heart catheterization done, she and Dr. Maniar went to bat with my insurance company so they would agree to pay for a CT Heart Scan instead. I had this done because I was having abnormal EKG's and did not get a passing grade when undergoing a nuclear stress test.

The test wasn't all that bad! Scary, because as I learned from my mothers death, any time that they are doing something with your heart, something can go wrong! The only thing that caused me any pain during the procedure was when they inserted the I V. And even that wasn't bad. The weird thing was the feeling that you get when they inject you with the dye during the scan. You can feel it travel from the top of your head, all the way down to your toes. It gives a hot sensation as it travels through your veins. The worst part of all of it, is the wait for the results. Although, I know that it will be quicker than most, because, Joanne will be on the look out. And no matter what turns up, I am sure that I will have the best doctors available.

Tomorrow, Gary (Pop Pop) goes in for some oral surgery. This week is strange for us as we are usually not having health issues that require hospital visits and surgery. But, it could be worse! I will be keeping my fingers and my toes crossed!