Prerequisite.

Turns out that if we are doing a chemical test, then after the hunk of cheese - it's just back to picture taking again. No more adenosine. Whew!

___________________________________________________________________________

I had follow ups to schedule of course. And a story to tell.

My first meeting was with the cardiologist.

He kept me in suspense for a little while. Eventually told me that as far as he could tell I was OK. We looked at ticker pictures. I asked him to explain them. I think he basically told me it was beyond my pay grade.

He told me that there were some blood characteristics that they wanted to figure out how to manage. My triglycerides are through the roof. Good - at least something we can work on.

He was ready to terminate our meeting - sending me off to the GP for various follow ups and testing.

I told him I really felt compelled to explain to him what had happened to me in the hospital.

Went something like this:

Me: "Doc, this was pretty much the most horrible experience I have ever had in my life."

Doc: "Oh, really. What happened?"

Me: "Well, First of all, there was no treadmill available..."

Doc: "What? No treadmill? There are three treadmills in the hospital."

Me: "That's what I understand as well. There just wasn't one available for my test. The one I actually saw looked like it hadn't been available for some time - as in quite a while."

Doc: "Well, I'll have to follow up with that. I'm on the board of that hospital you know."

Me: "Good to hear. So the technician basically strong-armed me into a chemical test."

Doc: "Well, that's pretty standard procedure. They had prepared the dye for you and all."

Me: "That's what I understood - so my perception is that I was pretty much overdosed in the procedure..."

Doc: "Look you can't OD on adenosine - your body metabolizes the dose within ten seconds and you don't really retain any drug in your system."

Me: "Well, that wasn't my experience. What they did was hit me with 10 CCs every ten seconds for ten minutes"

Doc: "No. What they do is hit you with 5 CCs every ten seconds for five minutes."

Me:"Sorry Doc. But the tech told me 10 CCs every ten seconds for ten minutes. I did the time."

Doc: "No way."

Me: "Look at the chart."

Docs: [Flipping through the chart] "Holy Sh*t."

Me: "What?:

Doc:

Me: "What is it Doc."

Doc: "Well, you're right, they did to 10 CCs for 10 minutes."

Me: "What does that mean?"

Doc: "Who was the attending physician?"

Me: "There was none.

Doc: "That's complete crap. There *had* to be an attending..."

Me: "Doc, I asked. The tech told me there was no attending and he didn't need one since he had administered this test hundreds of times."

Doc: "Uh..."

Me: "What?"

Doc:

Me: "Would you please talk to me?"

Doc:

Me: "Come on Doc."

Doc: "I really can't say anything else to you about this. I can tell you that I will follow up on the information that you've given me. Please make your follow up appointments with the GP."

On the way out, it hit me: "He thinks you are going to sue them."