A Merry Heart

Proverbs 17:22 (NIV)
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

(In The Message)
A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.

My heart is singing praises this morning! I finally got into see the heart specialist yesterday afternoon after many rescheduled appointments. After having an EKG done, giving extensive medical history, symptoms and life events...Dr. Porterfield has ruled that my problems with my heart appear benign.

He said that based on my 1st EKG that was done locally when my heart was "skipping" a beat shows that it is coming from the right, lower chamber of the heart. He said that it feels like it is "skipping" a beat but it is technically having an "extra beat" thrown in. When the "extra" beat occurs in the right, lower chamber then it is considered benign.

After telling him that I have noticed several things that trigger these episodes, which are: stress, anxiety, OTC cold medications and sickness...he concurred that these are the very things that cause PVCs in the right, lower chamber. He diagnosed it as PVC (premature ventricular contractions due to situational events) and we would just watch them. He confirmed our decisions for certain lifestyle changes ie. simplified life with less stress and more quality family time would be very helpful.

He will see me back in 6 months unless I have more episodes accompanied with other symptoms like shortness of breath, chest pains, fainting or any other unusual symptom. At that time, we might do a Heart Stress Test and Echo Cardiogram just for precautionary measures.

I really loved Dr. Porterfield! He was a very sweet man with a calming demeanor. He said that if he thought there was anything else going on...he'd say so and order the necessary test to rule out heart disease but he felt completely comfortable with his diagnosis and assessment. So do I!

Have a wonderfully blessed day!