It’s March 1st and I haven’t typed a single word for this blog for the entirety of 2025-or at least what we have experienced of it so far. Strange Notations from a Laborious Life as been going now since 2011 and I would like it to continue but life seems to be getting in the way of my productivity when it comes to expressing myself. But, oh boy, just trying to navigate the world at the moment, personally, and being constantly bombarded by horror stories from overseas, the continuous battle in the news cycle between the loony left and the obnoxious right, navigating health difficulties with both myself and of course, and more importantly, Linda, has just created enough of an overload effect that I have stayed away from my blog. But, here I am again and we are going to kick off with some content for 2025. Happy New Year!!
Late last year I had my usual day trip to the hospital in order for my urologist to check my bladder for any abnormalities. Some who have followed me for a while may remember a small cancerous growth developing in my bladder a few years ago which was cut off and the subsequent procedure I have to have every December to ensure my continuing health. Before I go to the hospital I have pre-admittance schedule I have to follow-blood tests, ecg and, up until last year a covid test which has thankfully been done away with now. Why these things have to be done has never been explained to me but I dutifully go about registering with the hospital and getting these tests sorted every year. No one ever mentions them or their results again.
So, everything went well. The doctor saw me after the procedure and assured me there was no problems and after a short period in recovery I was on my way home to prepare for Christmas. I did wonder about the ecg and what it might have said, if anything and some days into the new year I decided to look up the results on the My Gov website. Much to my surprise the ecg had come back abnormally, showing consistency with a condition called Left Ventricular Strain. Now, alarm bells didn’t quite go off but I was concerned enough to touch base with my general practitioner who herself queried why no one in the medical chain had questioned the results or mentioned them to me.
Left Ventricular Strain is a hardening and enlarging of the left ventricle. There are a number of reasons it can occur but high blood pressure is the main cause and although my blood pressure has been somewhat normal recently, it was elevated for several years until I was treated for sleep apnoea. It still goes up and down a little but is much more within a constant standard now that should be expected for my age.
My doctor wasn’t terribly perturbed but being as thorough as she is declared she wouldn’t want me to walk out of her room and collapse because we hadn’t done anything about it. Good move I reckon! So, she referred me to her preferred cardiologist and a long, stressful wait of several weeks occurred until I finally arrived at the date of my appointment last Monday.
I was given another ecg and then directed into the office of the cardiologist where I found the dapper, friendly and cheerful Dr Khan to greet me. He confirmed the ecg results had matched the results from late last year and felt that the best diagnosis he could give was Left Ventricular Strain caused by high blood pressure as a result of long term sleep apnoea. That’s not great but at least he was on the job and had some idea what might be going on. Left Ventricular Strain can apparently be reversed somewhat under certain circumstances and as I had no outward symptoms he seemed to think it might be quite mild. However, going forward they would have to do what is known as an echo cardiogram, which is a probe to your chest that fires sound waves at your heart and gives an image on a computer screen of your heart and the shape it is in. I was booked in yesterday and whilst I didn’t see images of my heart I did hear the lapping and slurping of it as the sound waves reverberated back though the computer speakers. It actually sounded a bit like a dog eating it’s dinner and I fervently hoped that was a normal type of sound. The young sonographer was quite stern and some may say unfriendly and I couldn’t gather anything from her silence as to whether the results were good or bad. In what seemed like no time at all I was back in the waiting area, wondering what the echo had gleaned and fearing the worst. I didn’t have to wait long for the friendly Dr Khan to call me into his room.
“Your heart is completely normal” he says. “Huh”, I think. “Apart from some slight changes due to age your heart is functioning perfectly”. At least I think he used the word “perfectly”! In any case there is nothing wrong with my heart. It is apparently in good shape. There is a slight dilation in my aortic root which allows a small amount of blood to escape where it shouldn’t and can present as Left Ventricular Strain on an ecg. “Keep checking your blood pressure and come back in five years”.
So, after a couple of months stressing that all the years I have spent looking after myself have amounted to nothing, I apparently am still in good health for my age. What a relief. I celebrated by drinking a can of Coca Cola when I got home. Nothing like a carbonated drink for heart health hey?
So, I live to fight on for a few years yet but it does stress the importance of getting yourself checked out if you feel something isn’t right. I saw something on Facebook recently that declared that once you reach fifty the engine warning light starts to flash and despite being quite funny is also close to the truth.
So, to all of you who have taken the time to read this, thanks, and look after yourselves until next time.
Matt.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 