Keith update (nearly normal!)

In the same way the personnel at UNMH seemed surprised that Keith lived, the follow-up doctors seem surprised he's doing as well as he is.

Dr. Hai, a DaVita cardiologist, second visit.

Echocardiogram, on June 24, showed the heart flow was 45-50 cpm. Dr. Hai says that's 90% of normal. People without heart attack history are 50-55. People who have had heart attacks are usually 30-35.

Results of a heart monitor he wore for three days a month ago showed no abnormalities in heartbeat. Over the course of three days, it skipped a beat a couple of times, but that's normal for anyone. There was nothing in that test to indicate problems.

Hemoglobin appears low.
Cholesterol looks good.
They had failed to do A1C, so he ordered one.

Lowered the dose of Amiodarone from 800 mg daily to 200 mg daily.

Next checkup in six months.

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Note from Sandra: It would be nice to know more from the inserted monitor/defibrilator, but at the first appointment, it wasn't set up to upload data yet. We had another appointment scheduled for three months later, but it was pushed out from three months to four and a half. That's a long time to go without feedback, I think, so I'm glad that Dr. Hai ordered the external monitor. It bothered me at first for being duplication, but UNM doesn't communicate with DaVita.

Keith got copies of the records from his stay at UNM. 400 pages. Dr. Hai kept that to photocopy some parts.

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Jacqueline Reeve, primary care, follow-up, third visit.

She wants to see the 400 pages of records from UNM, too.

Keith had blood tests right away for hemoglobin, A1C, and "an iron study."
Keith's been taking an iron supplement for a couple of months, just informally, on the physical therapist's recommendation. Reeve will make a recommendation when the lab work is back.

She listened to his heart just quietly for a long time and said she heard nothing like a murmur, and all was strong and good.

The kidney specialist, Dr. Chen, had recommended Saw Palmetto (capsules, over the counter) to help with an enlarged prostate, but she didn't say how much or how often. Reeve looked it up and recommends 160 mg twice a day. That's unrelated to heart problems, but when there's a big emergency, people seem to stop paying attention to anything else. He's well enough that they're looking at things other than his heart now, which is nice. They sent him to the kidney specialist (I think, it seemed) to make sure there wasn't kidney damage from the cardiac arrests, or from the effects of the ICU treatments.