The "Hole in the Heart" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was laying on a table at the Health Campus of Lancaster General Hospital looking at my heart. Pretty neat what they can do with technology. A few weeks ago I went to my family doctor, Dr. Carlos S., for a physical. When you go on Medicare you are allowed one (1) complete physical for the rest of your life. It must be taken in a certain amount of time or you lose it. We'll I didn't want to miss it so I did it a few weeks after I started Medicare. Everything was going smoothly, blood test was fine, reflexes were good, heart .... what's the matter doc? Can't you hear it I asked as he was listening intently to the bottom left side of my chest. I hear something irregular. Nothing to be alarmed about, but I am going to order an echocardiogram to be safe. An echo bounces harmless sound waves (ultrasound) off the heart. A device that looks like a microphone is used. The test helps show the size of your heart and the health of the heart's chambers and valves. Before I was finished in his office he had his nurse do an EKG to check against the one I had a few years ago. He did some checking and told me he would be in touch with the results of the Echo after he received them. My date came and I headed to the Health Campus. I check in, fill out the 10 page life history, sign my life away and wait to be called. Didn't take long before a young technician came to get me. She was doing my test today. Had to take off my shirt and lay on my back on a table that has a padded section under my left side that can removed to make it easier for testing. The tech smeared this cold slimy stuff on me and started moving the microphone (transducer) over my left side. Kept taking photos or videos of my heart as she did it. Then I had to lay on my side and she ran the mic over my left side. Did it over and over and over ..... kind of annoying. Now what I described took about half an hour. Then she tells me that she is going to get a nurse who can put an IV in my arm so that they can do an additional test. A few minutes later they both enter and go through the cabinets to find all the items they need. The nurse is even younger than the tech. Neither looks older than maybe ..... 15 years old. I asked them, "Do you two know what you are doing? Should a doctor be here to watch what you're doing?" They kind of laughed and said they do this all the time. Hey, I'm typing this so they must have been right. The nurse puts the IV in my left arm and connects a bag of what she said is saline solution with some fizz in it. Something like carbonation in it so they can see if I have a hole in my heart. The tech pulls her monitor closer to me and tells me to watch the screen. Then she says, "See your one heart chamber filling with the fluid." Yeah, pretty neat. Then as it is almost full I see a few, very few, bubbles pass through into the other chamber. "That's the hole we were looking for in your heart. Extremely minor. My son who is 5 years old has a bigger hole in his heart than you do. A lot of people have minor holes in their heart." "You have a 5 year old son?" I asked her. She must be older than 15 than. Fascinating to watch what just happened in my heart. I get dressed and she tells me that she doubts the doctor will recommend I see anyone for a minor problem like that. And .... she was right. Doctor S. called in a week and told me the results and that He'll see me in a year to recheck the problem. I guess the tech and nurse really did know what they were doing. And I didn't feel a thing!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.