Cardiology is awesome, but I'm kind of selfish

As of last Friday, I am officially 5 months post-op! So what exactly has been going on since my last post? Well, for one thing, I turned 29. I enjoyed a fun birthday weekend with my friends and family.

I haven't been running as much as I should be, especially when I have a half marathon in 35ish days. I've been getting little runs in here and there, but honestly, it's been bad. Can I also say that I'm so excited that it's fall. I love summer, but fall brings football and tailgating. In September, I spent two weekends in State College with friends going to the Penn State football games. Of course, lucky me, it poured during both games. All that aside, I still had a blast, as always.

(Nita, Eric, Me and Matt before the rain set in for the day)

("Nails")

(Tailgating with my girls, Dani and Kristen)

(Home: 103,000+ Stripe-out under the lights in Happy Valley<3)

Okay, so that's been my last few weekends. Let's get on with my 5 month update. So like I said, Cardiology is awesome, but I'm a little selfish. As much as I LOVE Cardiology, I'd be lying if I said I didn't go into the field of Cards without my own interest in mind. Last week I was feeling a little short of breath and noticed my heart rate was hovering around 105 bpm at rest. I received my flu shot on Wednesday, so I thought maybe it was a side effect of the shot hitting me, or possibly I was trying to fight off a virus that was trying to set it. Nevertheless, I had my coworker do another echo on me to make sure that nothing was actually going on.

Here's what we found:

My new Pulmonic valve is in fact leaking, which annoys me. There's not much I can do about it though.

(Lovely Pulmonic insufficiency)

My pulmonary pressures are mildly elevated. However, if the RV is remodeling and function is improving, it is possible for my pulmonary pressures to be elevated due to the fact that the ventricle is able to produce a pressure. Makes sense, could also be explaining my shortness of breath.

The gradients through the conduit also seem elevated to me. To be honest, I'm not even sure what the mean and peak gradient for my RV-PA conduit should be for the size and type, and I've searched journal articles high and low for values, but come up empty handed. So that will be something I'll have to keep in mind when I go back in November. Hopefully someone will have an answer for me.

(Gradients through the conduit)

Either way, like I said, I'm supposed to have a follow-up with pediatric cardiology in November. I'll keep an eye on things, and if I continue to get worse, then I'll call them sooner.

Moving on. This past Tuesday, I went to RIT in the evening to help a friend out with a lecture he was giving on Pulmonic Stenosis with Intact Ventricular Septum pathology. Though my pathology is a little different, he asked me to stop by so the students could scan me. It was a lot of fun, and the lab at RIT is beautiful. The students took their turn scanning me which took about and hour. My friend asked them questions while they were scanning. "Why does that structure look like that." "What does this measurement tell us?" Etc... It was great to be able to help out and have the students see a little different pathology than I'm sure they're used to.

Any way, that's about all I have for now - nothing too exciting.

QOTD: What's do you like most about the fall?