Tuesday, February 28, 2023

 Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Melissa is a doctor. I told her about my stress test. I thought the doctor prescribed a chemical stressor instead of the treadmill because of my age. Not at all. The chemical stressor is more efficient and safer regardless of age. A doctor has to be present during the stressing part of the stress. He must observe the patient's response and be prepared to intervene medically. The doctor was present for about five minutes. The technician inserted the chemical stressor into the intravenous line when he arrived. My heart reached the maximum rate. The doctor saw I was okay and left.  

    Had I been on a treadmill walking as fast as I could on the steepest incline I could handle, it might have taken fifteen minutes to reach that rate. Moreover, my lungs or calf muscles might have given out before my heart got its maximum rate. The good doctor might have had to linger at my side for half an hour. Not a very efficient use of his time.

     I also thought the technician messed up my test. I told her he took my initial blood pressure when I wasn't most relaxed. It was unusually high for me, 147/81. The doctor said there had been little change between the initial take of my blood pressure and the one during the stressing. I thought that meant my test would be invalid. Melissa explained that they took the initial test to check that my blood pressure wasn't too high to safely administer the stressing chemical into my system. They don't administer the chemical stressor if the blood pressure is 180/ 100. The patient can suffer a heart attack during the procedure.

      I came home, ate something, and took a three-hour nap.

    I thought I had an appointment with siblings first grade Iz and third grade J. When I contacted their mom after sending the Zoom invite, and there was no response, she told me we needed to meet on Thursday.