The last one was a piece of cake, but for some reason it triggered the onset of a fibrillation which was controlled by Buddy, my trusty defibrillator sitting in my chest. The one conducted by the doctor in the article happened in 2009 and although he was a really nice guy and the actual test itself was fine, the events leading up were stressful.

When I went to the echo lab at Mt. Sinai, I was greeted by a very pleasant intern who directed me to the room the test was going to be conducted in. The test I was having required a saline drip as they were doing an initial check to see if my PFO was leaking. The intern stuck a needle in my arm and nothing. No blood. She removed the needle and tried again. Nothing. She then decided to try my fore arm. My veins are pretty big and I never had a problem getting an iv before. No luck. She then pulled out and tried my hand and bent the needle. I am a very patient person, but that’s when I told her enough! Stop stabbing me and get a nurse that knows how to place an iv. She insisted that she could do it, but I told her to step away and get a nurse and not touch me again. She left and a nurse came and did it correctly the first time! I swear that nurses are smarter than some doctors. Overall though, stress tests are pretty stress less, unless you are a couch potato and the thought of getting on a treadmill scares the bejesus out of you.

Composed by Basil Rene using Blogsy for iPad