Monday, August 15, 2011

First Visit with the Adult Cardiologist

Okay so I know everyone is dying to know how the first appointment with the new cardiologist went.So here goes...

I got to the office,checked in and waited for about 10 minutes before I was taken back to an exam room. The nurse took my blood pressure which was really high in both arms (I don't think she knew WHAT she was doing) then I had to play the waiting game.Then Dr. Dinh came in and he listened to me,checked my peripheral pulses and checked my carotid artery (which is something my peds cardiologist never did) He checked my liver for enlargement.He checked my fingertips (obviously to make sure they weren't blue)

After the physical exam we talked about the Coumadin vs Prodaxa debate. He said that for now he wanted to keep me on the Coumadin because the Prodaxa isn't for those patients who have had valve issues.He is going to send a request over to Dr. Juris' office for my reccords.I mentioned that when I had a liver panel done reccently my bilirubin levels had been elevated and I asked if it had anything to do with the CHD's. He said he wasn't sure but he was going to request my lab results as well.

He said that he would have a much better idea of the care plan after he got my reccords and he was able to review them.He wants to see me in 3 months (hopefully he can wade his way through all my reccords by then) Turns out he actually worked under Dr. Laks who was my surgeon at UCLA when I was 4 1/2.So he's going to talk to Dr. Laks.

Then I had a quick visit with their Coumadin clinic and signed some paperwork for them. Then I was free to go.

I really,really liked this guy. He was through and really nice and he answered questions in a way that I could understand them.I would reccommend him to ANY Adult CHDer.