It's really mild at the moment. There's quite a strong wind blowing, but it's unseasonably warm. We have had the central heating on last night, but we decided to turn it off as the lounge was far to warm.
I had an appointment at the Cardiology Department at Milton Keynes Hospital at 10.50 this morning. It's no more than a 15-minute walk from here, along the Redway that runs behind this house and into the hospital campus, and a short walk around the ringroad within the hospital grounds. The waiting area was really packed, and I was called into a room to be weighed and have my blood pressure checked before going in to see the consultant. The queue seemed to go down fairly rapidly as people were called in one by one and then I was sitting all on my own. It must have been a good 45 minutes after I arrived that I was called into the consultant's office. It seems odd that I have to keep on repeating what happened the last time I was taken in to hospital through Accident and Emergency, as I would have imagined that it would have been in my clinical notes. I had to describe the sort of pain I get when I have an angina attack. A sort of persistant pain in the middle of my chest, usually brought on by something strenuous or stressful. Sometimes it can be bought on by stretching up, (ie putting something on a shelf where I have to lift it above my head) carrying something, pushing (ie a shopping trolley) or generally just doing light exercise, like walking. I have felt very dizzy when I have bent down to pick something up quickly, but all this usually goes away if I sit or lie down for a short time. The last time I was in hospital and had to call an ambulance I wasn't doing much of anything, just about to read a book, quietly sitting in an armchair, so I can't pin any one thing on what caused that attack.
The consultant suggested having another stress-echo test. I then told him I thought that was what I'd had a few weeks ago. He wasn't sure and had to look on the computer to find documentation. He told me they had a new computer system and it was taking a while for people to get to grips with it and it was difficult to find anything. It seemed a somewhat random system. Anyway, he then decided that it wasn't really necessary to have another similar test. Which pleased me, as I'm not too keen to go throught all that again in a hurry! Anyway, it would appear that there is nothing wrong with my heart and that the 'prognosis was good.' I still don't need any sort of surgery and I should keep on with my medication.
He went through my medication. I said that I had started taking the Pravastatin again, and that there was no muscle pain as a result. I said that the Isosorbide Mononitrate was giving me headaches, and that I had changed the times which I took it from 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. to around 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. I told him that I was having trouble sleeping, and then he said that he would recommend changing this medication to something which worked in a similar way but which would not cause headaches. Also, I have been having really bad heartburn, so he will prescribe something to ease that and also I am to be prescribed something which should help my heart function better and help reduce blood pressure, although I don't have excessively hight blood pressure. I wanted to know about my cholestrol levels and that we had seen that this had been checked when my blood was tested when I was last in hospital. He told me that it seemed alright.
He is going to write to my G.P. and tell him the recommendations for my medication-changes and that the doctor will give me the required prescription so I can get it made up by a pharmacy.
Anyway, it's good to find that things are going O.K. I left the cardiology department and walked the short distance home.
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