Yesterday I had an echocardiogram. I’ve had EKGs before but not this ultrasound 2D view of my heart.  It was very cool to see all 4 chambers of my heart pumping and hear the valves working.  I also learned a new term – ejection fraction, which is a measure of how well the heart is pumping with each beat.  Generally, the number quoted is for the left ventricle, the main pumping chamber for the heart.  55-70% is normal; my test came back at 60%, quite normal and healthy.   Yay!

The echo took about 30 minutes, but the technician informed me that for subsequent tests (every 3 months) they’ll only need to calculate the EF, which should only take about 15 minutes.  It was pretty painless, except for the view of the aorta from the neck.  (As a refresher, Herceptin can cause loss of heart function, so an echo was done to get a baseline of my heart function.  I’ll have regular tests to monitor my heart function.)

I had a really great phone call with my good friend Mike last night.  He’s a doctor and can relate easily to what I’m saying, from the science to all the other parts of dealing with this situation. He offered from our very first phone call about my cancer that I could call him to talk about anything, including complain about what’s going on.  It was great to talk through things with someone who can be very matter of fact about the situation, but who also knows me pretty well. Thanks, Mike, for letting me bitch to you!  ♥ you!

Tomorrow is the chemo education session, and the next day is my outpatient surgery to have a port installed.  Things are rolling right along, and that’s good.