Dave and I went to see his cardiologist, Paul Huang, on March 1st. On intake, the nurse took Dave’s blood pressure from both arms. The results were 140/75 on left arm and 130/80 on right arm, with some evidence of an irregular beat. Dave reported to Dr. Huang that his PVCs have stopped and said that while the 12-lead EKG did indeed show irregularities when he got his seed implants on 1/28, the report was still better than the one from the 12-lead EKG he got a year ago.
Dr. Huang said that Dave’s irregular EKG was likely because of asymmetric thickening in his heart muscle, with some parts of the heart muscle not working as well, i.e. non-uniform contraction. He said the most likely explanation for the thickening is hypertension. It’s also possible that there are some blockages in the cardiac arteries.
Dr. Huang ordered a nuclear stress test to test the blockage hypothesis. The test involves injecting a radioisotope and doing real time analysis of blood flow while Dave is exerting himself on a treadmill. This is then compared with blood flow while sedentary. Dr. Huang also wanted a lipid panel, so that was added to Dave’s next set of labs, scheduled for 4/16.
Sleep apnea could also explain some of the abnormalities. Dave had a sleep study recently, which detected some evidence of sleep apnea, but final results are not available yet.
In any case, Dr. Huang cleared Dave for strenuous exercise, including uphill/aerobic walking. He just said to be mindful of breathing and sensations in the chest, and to stop and take a break if it gets too uncomfortable.
Fast forward to Saturday, 3/13: Dave ended up going to the ER with a urinary obstruction, which his past reading had indicated might be a potential complication of the seed implants. After they explanted some blood clots, he was sent home with a catheter. He doesn’t yet know if it will interfere with his radiation treatments, which are scheduled to begin later this week. Either way, it is certainly uncomfortable.