This is really interesting. When I had my lung surgery, my serum calcium levels were so low that they were at "panic" level...they put me on calcium and told me to take it regularly when I got home. A couple of months later, I had a low dose CT Scan of my lungs and the radiology department emailed me that I needed to call my doctor because there was a finding on the scan that the doctor might want to address. Nothing like freaking a patient out. It DID say that there was no sign of lung cancer but whatever the finding was needed to be followed up with my pulmonologist. I called her and could not get a call back but I had an upcoming appointment so I decided to just let go of it for a few days. When I went to see her, I asked why the radiology department seemed so concerned, she looked over the results and kind of shrugged her shoulders. She said that there were calcium deposits in my coronary arteries but SHE was not worried about it at all. The next week, I saw my rheumatologist and asked HER what she thought. She told me to cut my calcium supplements down and not to take them at all if I was having a calcium rich meal...i.e. cheese, yogurt, broccoli, almonds...I said okay and she said that the calcium deposits are a sign of coronary artery disease. I had an echocardiogram and I also had stress test, the pulmonologist said the stress test showed an ejection fraction of 78% and she said, "that's GREAT." I asked the rheumatologist if she agreed with that because I thought it was HIGH and that is NOT good. She said, "It IS high." I asked her if she thought it was okay and she said probably but unless they did a cardiac catheterization there was no way to tell for sure. Confused? I sure am, I don't see the pulmonologist until February or March...not sure, THEY changed the appointment...they do that all of the time. It kind of concerns me that it is being blown off. I really like my rheumatologist and have been with her for years and years...the pulmonologist, not so much. Now I wonder if there could be a connection between my heart and my lungs that is being blown off. I am not exactly sure who to ask.
Well, NOW you've got me thinking.
Ellen
