Just heard back from Dr. Weiss, the internist. He’s all for medical management of the cardiac issue once we know what it is, but he’s pretty sure it will take an angiogram or the moral equivalent to make a definite diagnosis. “Looks like three-vessel disease. If you’re 80% restricted, medical management should work. If you’re 99% restricted, you need to be re-vascularized.” He will send the chart to the cardiologist Dr. Sanders recommended and ask him what ought to be done. That might mean a low-contrast angiogram that wouldn’t require putting me on dialysis first. Fingers crossed.
First radiation treatment today. Other than the fact that the mask shrunk a little bit as it dried and is now tight around my nose, no discomfort at all. That was the predicted result for the first couple of weeks. Then things might, or might not, get hairier; apparently there’s almost no risk of something really hairy.
I’ve been getting lots of notes from friends, and they’re greatly appreciated. Despite what I thought was a reasonably optimistic prognosis, a number of you were very distressed; that wasn’t my intention. Those of you who went through this with me last round know that these notes aren’t the least bit sugar-coated; when I’m actually suffering, or when the news is bad, you’ll know about it. So when I say I’m cheerful and that the outcome is likely to be that I come out of this in reasonably good health, you can take that to the bank. If I thought the country was as likely as I am to be in good shape five years from now, then I’d really be a happy camper.