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Showing posts from April, 2006

Cardiac stress test

Yesterday I had a cardiac stress test. Since I have been participating in a cardiac rehab program for the past six weeks or so, I assumed that the stress test would be relatively easy. Remember the cliche about assuming. I soon learned how wrong my assumptions were. In the rehab program I usually get 40 - 45 minutes of consistent cardio exercise 3 times a week, along with a series of exercises with free weights. Then I usually walk between 2 and 3 miles 2 or 3 of the remaining days. The stress test is designed to monitor the heart function in varying conditions. It begins with the insertion of an IV for the puropse of injecting a radioactive isotope and also for a saline solution while on the treadmill. The isotope used was "technesium". It emits gamma rays and has a half-life of about 6 hours. I believe it does not occur in nature. I then climbed onto the bed of a machine that was a gamma detector. In some ways it resembles a MRI in that the bed moves into the hea
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A new member of the family.