A Surprise of Life

Today I saw my cardiologist for a consultation on the echocardiogram I had a couple weeks ago.
I was expecting complete clearance and be told to go on my merry way. I did have to start taking Toporol to slow down my heart rate but I was doing that and all was going well. Well, I got one of those surprises of life. My blood pressure was 104/76 and that is the good part. Also, another good thing is that the atrial fibrillation had stopped after reducing the thyroid meds dosage. Now that I am on a lower thyroid dosage, I thought all would be well. But the echocardiogram was to see if there was any damage. And there was. Also, two heart valves were not closing as they should (the mitral and aorta) and blood was backing up into the left upper chamber of the heart. This can allow blood clots to form, and there is the danger. It highly increases the risk of stroke. There was also some damage in that upper chamber. So I have to take Coumadin for the rest of my life, and learned it is not good for me to eat dark green leafy vegetables or brocolli (and more) because of high Vit. K content. I am now in the process of having my blood tested every few days and it began today and I go back again on Thursday and also next week, and the week after that also. Then when the coumadin levels are working, I can go once a month. This was all a shock to me today and very upsetting. I am handling it a little better tonight but as I read the literature given to me, it upsets me all over.
I do know I am grateful this was found. I had absolutely no symptoms and felt great, and still feel great today. When the P.A. asked me how I felt and I said GREAT- she just laughed and said you always feel great, you felt great even when your heart was in atrial fibrillation! True, oh so true. Which makes me ever so grateful that my wonderul P.A. at my oncologist's office discovered this. The darn endocrinologist who saw me in January and was the one who prescribed the high thyroid dosages when radiation crashed my thyroid, never caught this. And that makes me love Rachel, the P.A. who caught this even more. The cardiologist P.A., Dondi,
told me just to think of what I am doing as prevention. And I am thankful that this is being taken care of and I have found this out so I can take care of it.