Cardiology? Me?

I went in for a cardiology consult yesterday as my internist/pulmonologist wanted. It's still hard for me to fathom that I would need a cardiologist. Working in ICU's, I used to treat all of those poor unhealthy souls who had heart problems...but I worked out, ate right, and made it a point to be healthy.

They did an EKG right there, which was fine. They printed me a copy of my labwork which (if I do say so myself) was spectacular. Cholesterol, fantastic. Triglycerides, great. HDL, LDL, VLDL all in delightful balance and where they should be. Blood sugar, electrolytes, proteins, all normal. Kidney function, good. Thyroid studies, normal. (Although I was kind of hoping the hypertension was endocrine related, because that's something that can be fixed.) Blood pressure: still high.

He doubled my medication and expects me to get swollen ankles...but maybe not, we'll see. If I suddenly grow cankles, he has a plan for that. (Which is good, because I do have decent ankles.) I'm getting an echocardiogram done in 2 weeks (something I've seen so many times but never thought I'd ever be getting myself.) A piece of good news: people do just suddenly get hypertension without something else being horribly wrong, and it can be as sudden as 5 months ago it was 120/82 and then it's 128/100, no other explanation. I asked him point blank about the diastolic dysfunction, but he just told me that the echo would tell us if anything's really wrong there. No false reassurances (darn), but I picked this guy because I know he's good and straightforward.

So, next step: see if BP comes down on double the dose, monitor blood pressure, keep positive attitude. And, direct order from cardiologist: KEEP EXERCISING! Good advice for almost everyone, don't you think?