a new kind of test for me.....need some encouragement

[Patty]

The pulmonologist that I saw yesterday is sending me for an echocardiogram tommorrow. I can hardly wait. At least, they tell me it is not supposed to hurt, is it??? Since the breathing test shows that I have excellent lung function, even with a missing lobe (hooray!), he is checking to see if there is something going on with my heart. I am short of breath easily, was anemic during chemo and I am retaining water with no relief from prescribed diuretics. He said sometimes the chemo affects your heart. I thought, well, that's just great on top of the fact that this cancer may be lurking and spreading as I worry and wait and then also there is my diabetes to affect my heart. I think I am going to take a nap. Thanks for listening, Patty

[Cindy RN]

What you are having done is an ECHO-which is short for that long term. It does not hurt-it is like an ultra-sound they do to check on preg moms.

It looks at heart function and whether there may be a build up of fluid around the heart.

I have had some fluid there for a year or 2 now. It does cause shortness of breath. Mine is very minimal now, not a worry anymore.

Cindy

[dadstimeon]

Patty--I had that test, pretty straight forward, no pain at all. Just lie there and takes about 30 minutes depending. I'm glad your doctor is being pro-active with the test. Hope this helps. Rich

[bunny]

mom had tons of them. don't hurt at all, from what she says. to me it looked like just sensors stuck onto your chest, she did not appear uncomfortable in the least. hang in there, try not to worry too much, and let us know how it goes.

xoxo

amie

[Ry]

I just had an echo. You have to undress from the waist up and you get a nice paper gown to put on. You lie on your side and they use an instrument with the gel and move it around your chest. You can watch your heart beating up on the screen -- just like if you ever had an ultra sound when pregnant. They take awhile -- at least mine do because they watch from different angles. Good luck.

[Don Wood]

Very simple procedure as stated. The only "pain" is the cold probe on the chest and the dadgum jelly they use for the probe, which gets on everything. Good luck. Don

[blaze100]

Hi Patty, I had an echo and a stress test in January. The echo is the easiest thing, actually kind of fun to watch your heart on the screen. And...No Needles! My tech was very friendly, really pampered me. The whole affair was a mini-lesson on the heart. I wish I'd read a little about the heart before the echo so I understood more of what she was saying. Anyway I have shortness of breath too, can only go 6 minutes on the stress test, but results on both tests were OK. Besides, after lc, heart disease just didn't seem that scarey

Good Luck on the tests. Barb

[cindi o'h]

Hi Patty.

I just had to laugh at Blaze's response about heart disease not being so scary after a whiff of lc! How true for me too!

I have had lots of echos. I have sob and have slight effusions around the heart each echo, from the chemo, I guess. It isn't that uncommon after treatment. If there were a big build up of fluid, there are ways of taking it off that a few of our friends have had done here. Cardiac window, I think it is called.

I am glad that your pulm. is following you closely and looking at the cause of your discomfort. Hope you get an answer that will give you an easy fix.

Please keep us appraised.

Cindi o'h

[Geri]

I was hospitalized last summer with SOB and a very rapid heartbeat, my lung function was excellent and an echo showed pericardial effusion(fluid around the heart).

I had a pericardial window cut to drain it and have had no problems since.

The echo is a walk in the park, very relaxing really, the lights are dimmed and all that's missing to send you off to sleep is the soft music. Don is right though, the lubricant is something else!!

Don't sweat this test, it's probably the easiest you'll ever have.

Good luck

Geri