Doin' the 'Lance Armstrong'

Today I went in, finally, for what I hope will be the last in a long string of tests and scans intended to find out why I am so short of breath. This test, done at the University of Washington Medical Center, is jokingly called the "Lance Armstrong," because it is an exercise test done on a stationary bike. 

After some preliminary tests where I tried to breathe into a mouthpiece without gagging (not very successfully), I was hooked up for the Armstrong. 

I rode the bike for about 15 minutes at gradually increasing intensities while plugged in to 12 color-coded electrodes. I also had a blood oxygen clamp on my finger and a mask over my mouth and nose. A doctor took my blood pressure several times during the test, and the whole thing was feeding massive amounts of data into a computer.

We'll have the results in a couple of days. 

The whole thing was kind of fascinating (what does that say about me? I'm not sure), and I asked lots of questions. I was pretty proud that I could ride for as long as I did, but in the end, as it always does, the bike won. I was left gasping for breath and feeling slightly sick and dizzy. But the technician and the doctor were both really nice and didn't let me fall off the bike. 

After the test, I came home, made a sandwich, and then crawled into bed with a book. Stayed there all afternoon, dozing and reading, but then got up this evening to do a bit of work in the garden. Plus Connie needed some playtime, so we played catch with his tennis ball on the sidewalk.

A footnote on the UWMC: When I was first diagnosed, I came to the UWMC for treatment, and just entering that building raises my blood pressure, even now. Also, it is as much of a maze as it ever was--I got lost twice trying to find the room I needed for my test. 

Jeanne Sather 2009. 

Comments

[Penelope]

Good going just getting through the test in a stressful setting. Some days I'm game for anything, some days it's all too much. Today we homebound took a three hour nap. It messed up the gettin' stuff done plan, but it was worth it.

I hope you and "Lance" produced some answers today, that will be helpful and not point toward more damn progression. I vote for new, different and easily treatable with feng shu.