Cardiologist Visit tomorrow

So tomorrow I go to see this cardiologist and hope he knows what kind of test to do (echo-cardiogram? EKG? MUGA scan? All of the above?) At least I have a problem I know needs addressed, NOW, thanks to Joan, who brought me her husband's heart rate monitor yesterday and then today loaned me her blood pressure cuff -- despite the fact that the pulsing I got on Thanksgiving day has not recurred.

My BP looks okay, low normal as usual. HOwever, my heart rate is abnormal. It's never been as low as you would think for someone who does as much regular physical activity as I do...... and I guess it did go up 5-10 beats/min during my first 6 months of chemo. However, it's now 20 beats/min above normal. I'm talking I'm getting resting pulses around 100.

I had an eye appointment today and I biked to it wearing this heart rate monitor, being careful not to let my HR go above 170-175, which is a good upper limit for me during vigorous exercise. Except today I got up to it without a whole lot of vigor...... Biking up small hills would get me above 160, which is nuts. I'm really glad I had the monitor, because without it it would really not have been intuitive to ride that slowly. Joan came with me (because she's just that way.) I asked her what our pace was a couple of times, so I know I was getting heart rates in the 160s at 10-11 mph.

I was on my old mountain bike -- and once we were going slightly uphill on the CCT -- and the other time going slightly downhill, but with a headwind. Still I'm not sure I could keep up with the Babes at the pace I would need to ride to keep my HR in a safe range, even on the Pilot (my nice road bike.)

So.... while I have had no recurrence of the Thanksgiving pulsing, I have something to bring to the cardiologist. I need to know what is going on with me and have it addressed -- by medicine, stopping the chemo, whatever. (Of course so far I'm hearing denial that the chemo or steroids could have caused this -- but something did, and it happened a week after I had them, so it seems kinda like a logical connection to look for, you know?)

I sure hope this guy knows what to do, and that something can be done that works. At this point I'm not sure how much I can ride my bike, though the monitor is a godsend (maybe I should make up a new word -- "joansend"?) and I'm afraid to swim (even though I can!) because I can't wear the heart rate monitor in the water ..... and of course I don't dare have sex......

Aren't I maybe a wee bit young and healthy for this kinda thing? Yeah I know I have breast cancer, and it was caught kinda late -- but even with that and this heart rate stuff, I still feel healthy -- particularly healthy, healthier than most, as usual. The only thing that bothered me today really was my right knee, on the ride back from Chevy Chase. My knees apparently each have separate benign conditions, my Mayo oncologist told me after the MRI of them. Nice to know, you know? Maybe if I can't ride on Wednesday I'll pay a visit to my favorite chiropractor and have it, um, fixed (I don't think I've seen him since before my mastectomy.) Then if I'm cleared to, maybe I can go swimming.....