Thursday, September 16, 2004
The Nuclear Stress Test
I was being paid by the day as an interim principal of the Branchburg Middle School when I had to take a physical for the job. My doctor told me that he detected a heart palpatation and was concerned, so he ordered a nuclear stress test. I didn't want to lose money, so I scheduled the test on Rosh Sha-Na-Na because I wasn't being paid for that day anyway.
I went in prepared for a real workout, sneakers, shorts, and snap pants. Before getting on the treadmill I had to get injected with some nuclear liquid. After that got circulated in my veins, I was put into a contraption like an MRI. The devices came very close to my chest and I had to be perfectly still. The problem was that I needed to relax, so I started breathing deeply. That was a mistake because I distorted the images. That meant I had to go through it again!
Finally, I got strapped up for the stress test. A technician plugged me in and took my BP. Then a nurse practitioner monitered the vitals. A third blond girl sat at another machine, which I couldn't know what it did and with gloved hands worked some controls. the treadmill wasn't too bad; in fact I appreciated it when it got faster. When is started breathing heavy, they stopped it.
Later, the NP explained that I had a visible heart palpatation when I began the exercise, but when things got hot and heavy, it disappeared. This was a good sign because if it got worse, that might mean that I might have clogged arteries.
I felt better about the test. I left feeling like having a few classes of red Australian wine.
I went in prepared for a real workout, sneakers, shorts, and snap pants. Before getting on the treadmill I had to get injected with some nuclear liquid. After that got circulated in my veins, I was put into a contraption like an MRI. The devices came very close to my chest and I had to be perfectly still. The problem was that I needed to relax, so I started breathing deeply. That was a mistake because I distorted the images. That meant I had to go through it again!
Finally, I got strapped up for the stress test. A technician plugged me in and took my BP. Then a nurse practitioner monitered the vitals. A third blond girl sat at another machine, which I couldn't know what it did and with gloved hands worked some controls. the treadmill wasn't too bad; in fact I appreciated it when it got faster. When is started breathing heavy, they stopped it.
Later, the NP explained that I had a visible heart palpatation when I began the exercise, but when things got hot and heavy, it disappeared. This was a good sign because if it got worse, that might mean that I might have clogged arteries.
I felt better about the test. I left feeling like having a few classes of red Australian wine.
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