the dictation

I'm sorry, I promised a more in-depth post about my doctors appointment. Unfortunately, sometimes life has other plans. But, yesterday I received the dictation of the appointment in the mail, looked over it, and decided I had to blog about it.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, the dictation is basically the doctors notes from the visit. After I left (or later that day), he pulled out a tape recorder, and basically recapped the appointment, what we talked about, what I have to do, etc. And actually, I find parts of it quite hilarious.

It's split up into parts, and I'll do the same here. I won't do it word for word, unless there's a particularly amusing part (which there are some that I found quite hilarious), or the section's so short that if I don't do it word for word, there's no point.

warning: this might be quite long.

INDICATIONS:

"Aortic Stenosis, aortic insufficiency, mitral stenosis." This is what I have. My aorta artery is enlarged, which means it's not functioning right. The valve isn't opening all the way, so it can't let as much blood in as it should, and it's not closing all the way, so it's letting some blood back in, which then has to be repumped. Also, my mitral artery also has the same problem, but since it's not a major artery, the doctor isn't concerned about it.

HISTORY:

This recounts our first conversation. We talked about how I'm attending BYU, studying Computer Science. How they found the murmur, etc. It talks about how my echocardiogram was "suboptimal", so I got a transesophageal echocardiogram, which "[showed] normal left ventricular systolic function, thickened aortic valve leaflets, with moderate to severe aortic stenosis, peak velocity of 4.5 meters/second, calculated valve area of .9 cm squared." Doesn't that sound fun?

This also says "[yellow m&m] reports having dyspnea with exertion ever since elementary school. She could never exercise like her peers." Doesn't that sound fun? Dyspnea might just be my new favorite word. (fyi, dyspnea is just a fancy word for shortness of breath).

My favorite part: "She denies orthopnea, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, palpitations, tachycardia, chest pain and syncope." Now, I have no idea what any of those mean, but they sound really cool, right?

CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS:

This just says I don't know of any time that I had rheumatic fever, but I've had strep a few times.

PAST SURGICAL HISTORY:

"Negative." Yep, never had surgery. Woot!

PAST MEDICAL HISTORY:

This talks about my thyroid problem, and says I have no history of anything else.

SOCIAL HISTORY:

This just says I grew up in Utah, is a Junior at BYU, and working two part time jobs.

HABITS:

Talks about how I like to drink caffeinated beverages every once in a while, but I don't use alcohol, tobacco or street drugs.

REVIEW OF SYSTEMS:

"The review of systems is negative except for that described above."

PHYSICAL EXAMINATION:

This is my favorite sentence: "The patient is a pleasant young woman in no current distress." I should put that on facebook or something. This just gives blood pressure, pulse, etc. I also like this "The chest is nontender." No idea what that really means though.

ELECTROCARDIOGRAM:

Describes the EKG findings - I have a problem.

IMPRESSIONS:

Basically, this part says that we don't know exactly how bad it is, but that the level of my dyspnea is out of proportion to what we think is wrong.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Cardiac MRI.