Bring On The Chocolate!!!!

I passed! They said my heart looks perfect! It feels like a hundred pound weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

The appointment went really well once they were able to get my iv in. I think my veins were a little shy after all the pokes in the hospital. I forgot that I would be having a Trans-Cranial Doppler test as well today. This test uses ultra sound on my head to listen for bubbles that have passed through my heart to my brain from the agitated saline they put in my iv.

It simulates what can cause a stroke when blood clots pass through to your brain. On the TCD I had done last fall there were hundreds of bubbles that passed through to my brain, this time there were only 3 or 4!

Next it was time to roll onto my side for the echo-cardiogram.

Here is a picture of my heart. It appears upside down and backwards on the screen. That would be confusing to get used to! You can see the device they put in to close the hole. It is the white oblong verticle blob at the bottom center of the screen.

When they pumped in the bubbles, once again very few passed through compared to the "curtain effect" they saw last fall which also produced a massive migraine. Not this time!

So, even though there were a few bubbles present on both tests, they consider my device as sealed over and a success! I have to keep taking regular aspirin for the next 3 months, then baby aspirin from then on  for "heart health". My next follow-up is in November.

Do I look happy and relieved or what!? I can't remember if this picture was before or after the first wave of tears. I am thrilled to say the least! I knew I was stressed about my heart before, but the added concerns from the accident with the internal bleeding, transfusion, and increased blood clot risk from being down so long was really weighing on me. I'm so very ready to put the heart anxiety behind me!

So now that my heart is no longer a migraine trigger, I can safely start experimenting with chocolate again and hopefully prove that theory wrong for this chick. Here's the plan: My beloved TWIX bar tonight, and hot chocolate for breakfast.

After 17 years, I say BRING IT ON!!!!