Claudia Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 Hi Everyone! I hope you are all doing well. My PCP of 40 years retired and I had to find a new one. The doctor that I decided on is also in a Cardiologist's office so I get the best of both worlds. She sent me for a battery of tests one of which was a CT Calcium Scoring test. My results came in at 1000 which is really bad. I'm having a stress test on Thursday which is causing me more stress. I'm very nervous about this as I have never had a stress test before. I will have a follow up visit after the stress test. We had a conference on the phone the other day and of course she told me not to stress out about the score but when I looked it up I almost had the heart attack that they said I might have with this score. I was a vegetarian for about 20 years before my diagnosis and exercised almost every day. My doctor said that It might be due to the chemo that i was on when first diagnosed with my stage IV squamous cell LC. I am now on Keytruda every three weeks. I was wondering if anyone here on the boards knows anything about this. I would appreciate any input anyone might have. Thanks in advance, Peace, light and great scans to all. Claudia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Galli Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 Claudia, Sorry, I can't help you with first hand insight. I have a full cardiologist workup done in September 2019 and the stress test was a piece of cake. Fortunately, I had good results. I'm sure someone will have some input on Keytruda and heart complications. Stay the course. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudia Posted August 25, 2020 Author Share Posted August 25, 2020 Thanks for replying Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rower Michelle Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 Yowza, Claudia, you've been living a model self care life for years, what a total shocker that must have been! BUT you've had regular CT scans so if there was a real problem, wouldn't there have been some clue there? I've no heard of this particular post treatment side effect either. What a blessing that the new PCP/Cardio is so through. Hang in there and keep us posted. Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabacat Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 Claudia, I can’t tell you anything about this in terms of Keytruda, but I CAN tell you that this test results is not necessarily how it sounds. My husband (now 83) had one of the earliest heartscam CTs back in 1999. His score was around 1000. Between that and his family history, everyone thought he was about to die. He had another the next year - it was 1200. And the more modern one that you’ve just had maybe 10’years ago - 1400. Guess what - he’s not only still around, he’s in great shape! Don’t let this scare you to death no matter what the doctors tell you, especially since you have such a healthy lifestyle. Susan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudia Posted August 26, 2020 Author Share Posted August 26, 2020 Michelle, thank you for replying to my post. I was thinking the same thing that you said about having pet scans. I thought something would have shown up on a pet scan but nothing did. I'm hoping that's good. I am very happy that I found my new PCP. You know the old saying that a new broom sweeps clean? That is what happened here. I can't help but wonder why my old doctor never checked this out but it doesn't really matter now. I have a stress test tomorrow and I'm having stress over the stress test. LOL Sabacat, thank you for your reply as well. You gave me some hope. I'm happy your husband is "still around and in great shape". I hope it stays that way. Does he do anything to try to bring the reading down? Eat any special foods? Does he exercise? I've been very lazy since my diagnosis. Between being sick from Chemo and tired all the time from Keytruda I've been sitting on my butt much too much. I do practice or teach yoga almost every day. It helps my stress level very much. Peace, light and great scans to everyone, Claudia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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