My Good News
First, a little tooting my own horn. I got an email and saw a post on Facebook yesterday morning from Feedspot, a blogging organization, letting me know that Never Say Die Beauty was chosen as #5 out of the Top 25 Beauty Bloggers Over 40. Yippee! They also gave me a cute medal that I can display on my blog. Nice!
About a month ago, I was picked as one of the Top 50 Beauty Bloggers (of any age), but I didn’t get a badge for my blog with that one 😉 I want to thank all of you who read and comment from time to time on Never Say Die Beauty! It was because of you that I got this recognition. xoxo
Now if only Sephora would think that my credentials are good enough to join their affiliate program so I could run their ads, lol. Well, guess I can’t have everything!
American Heart Health Month
February, Valentine’s month, is American Heart Health Month. So if you’re of a certain age, make sure you check your blood pressure and cholesterol. Here’s a link to a useful website about Heart Health Month from the CDC, Center of Disease Control, whose budget, I believe, is being cut unfortunately so corporations can have a big tax cut.
In spite of the fact that I’ve been a jogger for more than 40 years, I have high cholesterol and now high blood pressure. Boo. Unfortunately, my entire family on both my mother’s and father’s sides have or had a history of heart disease or precursors to heart disease. I inherited it. No matter how much and how often I jog (most days), and how I watch my diet (vegetables, fruits, lean meat, and cheese as a treat every now and then), my numbers won’t move on their own. If I were vegan, that might help, but I’m not willing to go that far at this point. A few years ago, I started taking cholesterol meds, and they made a difference. I also lost the battle of trying to get my blood pressure down through jogging and healthy diet. I finally agreed with my doctor that I would start taking blood pressure meds. In fact, we just doubled my dose.
Another thing that I did to try to get a handle on my blood pressure and stress level is to try meditation. Typically, I like things where I can move around like jogging or dancing, but I finally gave meditation a try. And though I can’t say that it’s a total success yet after just a few weeks, I am surprised that I enjoy it. In order to learn how to do it, I discovered a series on YouTube put together by a woman named J. Bittersweet. She has a 30 Day Meditation Challenge for Beginners. She also has Meditation for Stress and Anxiety, and another series about the Third Eye that helps me fall asleep, as well as Binaural Beats and Ocean Waves for Sleep that works like a charm. Here’s the link to the J Bittersweet website, but I mostly use the YouTube videos. They vary in length from about 5 minutes or so each for the Beginners Meditation to longer for the stress and sleep-oriented videos. You don’t actually need the video portion (she’s a cartoon character!) just the audio. I listen to it on my iPhone. I don’t always listen to them in order, but instead I replay the ones I find most useful.
In order to make sure that my heart is OK, I recently had a couple of EKGs. It was more than 5 years since the last one, so it was certainly time. I was surprised that now a technician rolled in a portable EKG apparatus right into my doctor’s office. It took less than 5 minutes. Yay.
As part of my check up, my doctor suggested I have a stress echocardiogram. Several years ago, I had two or three stress tests on different occasions. I would arrive wearing my jogging clothes and get on the treadmill for about 15 minutes or so, and that would count as my daily jog. Usually, the tech would tell me to get off already. I also had a couple of echocardiograms when I was in the hospital about 8 years ago after I inadvertently disturbed a wasp nest. I ended up with more than 12 wasp stings, and I went into anaphylactic shock, a state that can affect your heart. The wasp stings weren’t fun, but I recovered, and the cardiac workup was no big deal even though they made me check into the Cardiac Care Unit to do it.
So yesterday, I put on my summer jogging attire (scoop neck sleeveless top and short jogging shorts) and went in for my appointment. For some reason, I was very nervous about it. I sat in the waiting room trying to meditate, and a middle-aged male tech finally came out into the waiting room and called my name. I identified myself. He said, “Come with me. We’re going to have us some fun.” He didn’t say it in a friendly, joking way, but in a deadpan way. Regardless of the tone and manner, I found it disturbing and inappropriate. Rather than helping my nervousness, it made me feel worse. I followed him into the test room, and he held out a gown and said, “Go into the dressing area. Put on the gown open in the front and take off everything from the waist up.” I said to him that I was wearing my summer jogging clothes, as I had done at my other stress tests. He said that I couldn’t take the test without following his instructions. I thought about it. I don’t know about you, but I am not jogging for 15 minutes on a treadmill almost nude and without a bra for support. He could have easily attached the electrodes to my skin under my bra as had been done in the past. I said, “Thank you, I’ll pass”. He said, “Suit yourself”. I left.
I was very upset because I thought my doctor would be annoyed that I didn’t take the test. When I got home, I wrote her a message via the electronic message board recounting my experience and asking if there was an alternative. We’ll see what she has to say. In the meantime, I contacted a couple of friends who had the same test elsewhere, and I asked them about their experiences. They told me they kept on their bras during the test, and the technicians were all women who were very nice. I plan to call the Patient Relations phone number of the health care facility and talk to them about what happened. I came away feeling like that guy probably thought I was strange for not complying with his orders and for walking out. I think he said something like, “It doesn’t matter to me.” Nevertheless, I hope I can have the stress echocardiogram elsewhere or under different circumstances. It’s an important test to have to compare to my earlier ones, but I couldn’t do it under those circumstances.
I don’t usually write this kind of a post. Hope it’s OK to share my story and my feelings about it on the blog. I’m also wondering if any of you have had a stress echocardiogram, and if so, what was your experience was like? I’m now having a dispute about it with my local health center so I’d like to know how it’s done elsewhere.
Morning Allison…..🙋🏻❤️ Thanks for sharing your story with us. We as women need to come together and share experiences that can help each other. Instead of being jealous of one another and bullying each other on the internet. Again thank you! 🤗 CONGRATULATIONS on receiving your award medal so so well deserved! 💐Have a beautiful “Fat Tuesday!”
Laissez les bons temps roulez, DiEtta! And thank you so much for your support and all you’ve done for me through the blog and personally xoxo
WOW No words to says what I think about that guy. Did you ever hear back from your doctor? CONGRATS on the the award metal!!
I have been having an online exchange with my doctor via the portal from the medical group. She said that the tech was inappropriate, and she reported his behavior to the practice administrator, so for now, that’s OK. I actually am putting the breaks on the whole thing for now. My GI doc once said to me about my PCP who is his doctor too, that she can be too aggressive. I think because of my family history and the fact that my blood pressure has increased as I’ve gotten older, she overreacted. She found a female tech to do the test, if I want, but I’m still not going to run on a treadmill for 15-20 minutes with no bra (that is not required at other clinics and hospitals) unless something else shows me to have serious heart disease, and as yet, there is no indication that I am aware of. Today in her digital message, she suggested I have another type of stress test with a radioactive isotope administered via IV. No, I don’t think so. I actually told her that somehow we have gone from me having had a panic attack to now doing a huge exploratory for heart disease. I told her I would be willing to do a regular stress test to compare with the one I had 7 or 8 years ago after the wasp stings. I told her that now I’m having a panic attack every day over this craziness. Thank you, Gloria, for asking. I think I’m ready for a vacation on a sunny beach instead. And thank you for the kind words about the medal. I was pleased xoxo
Hope life has got a little bit less stressful for you. I had the stress test with a radioactive isotope administered via IV done last year. It was stress free for me and when I talked to the Dr he said every thing looked good BUT if I wanted to take the walking stress we would know for sure. In the moment I said YES but after getting home and thinking about it “he said ever thing looked good” I decided NOT to take the test. I know what you are saying about vacation on a sunny beach. Thursday we had 70 degrees, friday am 62 by 4pm it was 30. Saturday we had 25 and 2 inches of snow. Sunday was 43 and monday is to be 65. No wonder ever one is sick and tired of the weather. Have a great week!
The minute I put the brakes on this medical fishing expedition, I have felt fine! Like about a zillion other Americans, I take meds for cholesterol and now blood pressure, but I don’t think that warrants having a $5K stress myoview test. I think you did the right thing as well, Gloria. Fine is fine unless you have some reason to believe it isn’t. The weather has been so crazy this winter. We got about 6″ of snow on Saturday night, and Tues/Wed the temps are expected to be in the 60 to almost 70. Weird.
I hate hearing people having these experiences when getting tests done. I’m sure we’re all nervous and when the nurses, etc aren’t caring and compassionate but are instead rude and not helpful, it just makes the situation that much worse. I would have walked out also!!! I’ve had full-blown panic before testing and surgeries and I totally understand that feeling. It’s miserable.I’m adding the youtube you talked about. I use the calm app which I love and can’t suggest enough, but I’m always looking for more things to try!
Thanks, Christine! My saga continues. But I’m glad you were interested in the YT videos. I don’t know the calm app. Will you share the name?
Congrats Allison, you so deserve your medal!! Wonderful blogger and super wonderful person!!
So sorry that you had such a terrible experience. Some people are just so rude! Personally, I have never had a stress done but I have been with my mother and sister when they got theirs done and as long as it wasn’t an underwire bra they could keep their bra on and if it did have the underwire they asked that it be taken out. So IMHO that tech was way out of bounds…and it just kind of makes me wonder how many other women that he thought were attractive did he do the exact same thing too, and with them not knowing any better did it. That thought just horrifies me because I am pretty positive that he’s done the same thing before.
Thank you so much, Paula! And thanks again for the message on FB and the photo of your friend. You are a very good friend! I was so happy to know that you and she got the goodies, and that you got to use one of them together. Thanks also for letting me know about your mother’s and sister’s experience. I am wondering if it was a regular stress test or a stress echocardiogram? I hope that someone did speak to the tech and reprimand him. That wasn’t good. I also think that if you have a job in healthcare where you interface with patients, you really have to 1) think before you speak and 2) try to be more compassionate. Hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day!