Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Training Program

Now that I've lost significant weight and have gotten myself into reasonably good shape, I begin the next phase. The 2011 running season is behind me and my sights are now set on the Cleveland Half Marathon.

As one of the 8 members of "The Cleveland Experience" team selected by Ohio Sport and Fitness Magazine, I got to meet with John Rolf an acclaimed exercise physiologist. John put me through a series of fitness tests to see what kind of condition I was in and came up with a custom training plan for my quest to run in the Rite Aid Half Marathon in Cleveland this coming May. The fitness evaluation contained four tests, each with one having a maximum score of 250. The tests measured strength, flexibility, endurance and aerobic capacity. I scored miserably, but I like to look at it in a 'glass half full' scenario, or in my case 1/4 full.

John laid out a five day per week program that includes 1 long day followed by an easy recovery day and 3 other days of running 3-5 miles. The weekly long run started off at 5 miles and increased very gradually over 18 weeks till I built my distance up to the 13 mile half marathon distance. Walking has been eliminated from the program I had been following. After about 8 weeks of base building, the program started to work in some speed work sessions, including Tempo Runs, Fartlek and 1,000 meter intervals. Three weeks before the marathon, we start to taper off the weekly distance and the length of the weekly long runs.

Friday, December 23, 2011

The Best of Christmas Presents

Met with cardiologist this morning for evaluation of treatment plan. Discussed a wide variety of subjects including my hopes to run half marathon in Cleveland this coming May and full marathon somewhere in the fall. Doc was thrilled with my progress over last few months and is totally on board with a stepped up training program. When he told me my cholesterol had dropped to 123, I thought he was referring to my bad (LDL) cholesterol. When he informed me that it was my total cholesterol I was so excited I almost started crying. Five months ago I couldn't run a hundred yards without having to stop to rest, the doctors at the Cleveland Clinic felt that bypass surgery was my best option, but at the suggestion of my friend Dr. Cliff Packer, I checked out some life style changes and adopted a program developed by Dr. Dean Ornish who had a lot of documented success in treating heart disease with diet and exercise. It was a radical program. Thirty minutes of exercise daily and the "Eat More, Weigh Less" diet that eliminated all animal products from the diet with the exception of fat free milk and egg whites (got to get the protein from somewhere). Two months of walking 3-4 miles every day turned into gradually working in some jogging, which turned into running. The diet has evolved into a little less radical one that allows fish twice a week and a lean steak dinner once a month.

A concern that I had was that when I started the diet, the weight was just melting away but has remained steady for the past two months despite an increased intensity in training. According to common BMI charts, I am considered about 10 pounds overweight for my height. The doctor wasn't too concerned with the weight and made a reference to Lebron James who would be considered obese with his weight of 275 pounds. He told me that fitness was a better measurement stick than the scale.

I was hoping that he would start lowering the dosage on my some of my medications. I expressed concerns over possible liver damage from Lipitor, but he insisted those risks were miniscule and the benefits far outweighed the risks. He didn't want to change the dosage on my beta blocker either. He said it would help keep my heart rate down while exercising.

I had some concerns about the diet being so low in fat and protein. Since I started the Ornish program we read the labels on everything and have been avoiding anything with any fat at all, especially saturated fats. I love peanut butter but it has a very high amount of fat, but also has lots of protein. He told me it was a good fat and assured me that it would be ok and encouraged me to eat it, especially in the morning.

Since my last posting, I ran one more race (a 3 miler on a flat course) and finally beat Lexi. In our previous races, we ran together for most of the race then she would beat me at the finish with a good kick. In the "Jingle Bell Run", she started getting stomach cramps at about the half way point. There was a guy I knew who was running with his young son just behind us, so I felt it was safe to leave her. When I crossed the finish line at 30:30 my wife and daughter greeted me with a panicked "Where's your grand daughter". After about 30 seconds she came into view so I was off the hook.

Last Sunday, I met with Marla Swinggy of Ohio Sport and Fitness magazine. When I was on the Cleveland Marathon website, I noticed an article that they were looking for everyday athletes to feature in upcoming editions. I sent them a short story of my quest and was selected as one of their six runners who will be running in either their first marathon or half marathon. She met with four of us to take pictures and videos and do interviews with us. One of the benefits of being featured is that we will get a fitness test from an acclaimed exercise physiologist who will evaluate each of our fitness levels and design a custom training plan for each of us to get us ready for our marathons.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Back in to the racing circuit


Competed (or should I say Completed") in four races so far. The first race was a 5k that I focused on heart rate. Goal was to keep heart rate between 85% and 93% of max. Took a walk break every time HR would reach 93% and would walk it down to 85% (about 30 seconds). All told, I think there were about five or six total breaks. Even though my focus was on HR, I was hoping to run under 33 minutes. Needless to say, I was very happy with the 32:24 time. Had lots of family on hand to run with; grand daughter Lexi, grand nephew Gavin, son in law Brad, niece Lizzie and cousin Bobby. I think everyone was afraid I was going to croak and didn't want to miss the excitement.

Second race was the Ichabod 1 Mile. With the shorter distance, my goal was to run the whole race without stopping to walk. The family deserted me this time, but I still had my friend Jenny Romano to run with. It worked out great because we are both about the same level. I maintained a 92-93% heart rate throughout the race and with about 200 yards to go, Jenny encouraged me to pick up the pace for the stretch. Had enough left in the tank for a good kick and crossed the finish line at 9:44 (was hoping for 9:33) and pushed the heart rate up to 98% of max. Although I didn't hit my 9:33 goal, I was pleased with the run because I made it the whole distance without stopping to walk.

Tom's Reindeer Run: Laurel, MD Since last race, I had been gradually building up my endurance and didn't want to go a whole month in between races, so while visiting my sister for Thanksgiving, I found a 5K in Laurel, MD. Ran with grand-daughter Lexi and told her before the pace that I wanted to go out slow (about 10:00 per mile pace) for the first two miles and leave something in the tank for the last 1.1 mile. Should have checked out this course ahead of time because it started off with the first half mile almost all down hill. Reached the 1 mile mark at 9:05 and the two mile mark at 18:55. Way faster than I wanted and with the last half of mile two being a long steep incline, I was exhausted. I did make it to the mile 2 mark without stopping to walk so I was pleased with that. Required 3 walk breaks during the last mile and finished at 33:18 (almost a minute slower than my first 5k)

12th Annual Lakewood Reindeer 5k: It was a sunny but cold Saturday but excellent running weather for December. Earlier in the week I had a training run that started with a non stop run of 2.4 miles. I was hopeful of going at least 2.75 miles so that I would be on target to complete a full 5k in the final race of the year next week. Again had my trusty Lexi to run with me and just before the two mile mark I could tell she was struggling. Her breathing was labored and she asked if we could walk. I encouraged her to breath deep and fight through it. When we reached the 2.5 mile mark, I felt I could make it all the way to the finish line. Lexi was able to recover from her difficulty and with about 100 yards to go I gave her the green light for a final push. It was too soon for me to sprint so she was able to pass about 10 runners and put about 25 yards between us. With 50 yards to go, I kicked it in and was able to cross the finish line 2 seconds behind her with a PR of 32:19. Although the PR was nice, I was most pleased with the consistent heart rate. Heart rate stayed at 88% for almost the entire race and my mile splits were pretty consistent too with 10:02, 10:22 and 10:37 splits.

Monday, October 24, 2011

After a month of running

Been working some jogging into the exercise program. Started off by doing 8 minute intervals, seven minutes of walking followed by 1 minute of jogging. The next workout I would reduce walking to six minutes followed by 1 minute of jogging. Eventually got it down to two minutes walking to 1 minute jogging. I'm reaching my HR max at about the same 1 minute of jogging, but am able to recover to normal HR much quicker.

Weight loss has slowed down considerably. Still losing 1/2 pound to a pound a week, but nothing like the rapid weight loss that I was seeing during the early weeks. In my last post, I said I would be thrilled with a 12 minute per mile pace when I run my 5k. Well in my last test run of the 5k course, I managed an 11:35 pace, now I'm setting my sites on a sub 11 minute pace. During my 11:35 per mile 5k my heart rate averaged 150 and maxed at 163 compared to my first jog/run workout which peaked at 167 or 95%.

Yesterday, had my most intense training day. Rode my bike on the Western Reserve Greenway to meet up with a new running partner Jim. Ten miles out followed by a six mile run, followed by a ten mile ride back home. I was totally exhausted when I got home and ate and drank continuously from the time I got home around 3:30 till I went to bed.

Woke up this morning for the weekly weigh in and dropped almost 3 pounds for the week. I was hoping to lose 3 pounds a week so that by the end of first 13 weeks of the diet and exercise I would be down to 172 which would be normal weight by most BMI charts. Total of 12 weeks have gone by and I've dropped 27 pounds. Although a little short of my goal, I'm happy with the overall progress.

Day off of training today, followed by two final training days before resting up for the first 5k.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Followup with Cardiologist

Just completed a recovery week of no walking but still managed to lose a pound and a half. Doctors office called on Friday and wants me to come in today (Monday) to review the results of my recent Echocardiogram. Dr. Bhakta received the video from the Cleveland Clinic of my heart catheterization and also of the 'Echo'. His estimation of the blockage was a little higher than the doctor at the Clinic, but he still feels that my approach of diet, exercise and medication is a sound one and worth trying. I was hopeful that we would be able to get some blood work done and start adjusting the dosages down on my medication. He didn't want to do that yet. His reasoning is that it takes at least 3 months for the medication to have a significant effect and 6 months for the diet and exercise to have a marked effect. We scheduled the next followup for December 23rd.

Cleared to Run.

I told the doctor of my desire to run in next May's Cleveland Half Marathon and the Bridges 5K at end of October. I outlined an approach of working running into my daily walks, starting with 1/8 to 1/4 mile intervals of running. He approved, now I'm geeked about expanding the workouts to a new intensity level. Hoping to gradually increase the running distances weekly over the next six weeks so that I'll be able to at least jog the entire 3.1 miles of the Covered Bridges 5k.

First running workout. Walked the first mile of one of my usual 5 mile courses keeping the heart rate in zone 1 (Less than 114 bpm), a painfully slow pace of about 20 minutes per mile. Once I reached the mile mark, I escalated the pace up to towards the 130 mark which was going to be where I would take off on my first jog. As my heart rate approached 130 I felt like a horse at the starting gate waiting for the bell to ring. My strategy was to jog 1 block then walk till my heart rate returned to 130, then to jog another block. Once I reached the intersection of West 13th and Norwood Ave, I took off. I felt strong with nice long strides, it took me back to "Glory Days" of high school cross country competition. It felt great to be running again, for about 30 seconds! My first jogging session went two blocks instead of 1 and my heart heart shot up to 167. The physiological max for my age is supposed to by 173, so that took me up to 97% of max heart rate (probably a little too much intensity for my 1st day). I decided then to stop each jog at about 90% of max which is around 150. Throughout the rest of the walk/jog I would jog until my heart rate reached 150, then walk till it returned to 125. I did this seven times till I was withing a half mile of home, then did a cool down walk the rest of the way.

The workout didn't go as planned, in fact it took me 3 minutes longer to do this course than my previous best time which was all walking. The big difference between this time and the last time was that first 20 minutes of zone 1 walking which took 20 minutes.

Bypass? After my 1st workout I'm thinking to my self that I've been walking 4-5 miles a day for two months now and still can't go a 1/4 mile without being gassed. Maybe I should consider the bypass surgery after all. Nah, I'm going to stay the course at least for now.

The Day After: Felt muscle soreness for the first time. I attribute this to the sixty minutes of zone 3 work yesterday. Zone 3 is a heart beat range of 80-90 % of max. In this range the body is calling for more glucose than can be delivered from the blood stream, so it draws energy from muscle tissue. I never knew this before I had my heart disease diagnosis and started reading up heart rate training. Just going to walk today and do another walk/jog on Wednesday.

Early morning walk/jog: Got up early this morning to get my walk/jog workout in. Only spent 5 minutes in zone 1 and started my first jog at the seven minute mark. Strategy today was to walk seven minutes then jog to the next 1/2 mile mark. My previous best pace had been 16:21 per mile and I was hoping that this approach would get me under 15 minutes per mile. I got close finishing up the 4.07 mile course at 1:02:22 or 15:19 per mile. Too early to start thinking of a goal to try for in the 5K, but 13 minutes per mile I think would be reasonable, I'd be ecstatic with 12 minutes.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Slow Steady Progress

Cut my training down a little this week, but still reached targets for zone 1 and 2. Zone 1 is the optimal fat burning zone of heart rate between 98 and 113. This zone is 60-70% of maximum heart rate. Maximum heart rate is your age subtracted from 220. In this zone you burn primarily fat. Zone 2 (70-80% max) is more intense and still burns a lot of calories, but your brain is telling your body that it needs energy FAST, so it draws from glucose reserves. Above 80% your energy actually comes from breaking down muscle tissue.

Finally broke through the 190 pound barrier weighing in this morning at 189.6, 22 down with 17 more pounds to go till I start my training for the Rite Aid Half Marathon in Cleveland next May. I just can't imagine how I managed to gain over 90 pounds since high school. I have no delusions of getting back to high school weight but 150 is a reasonable target.

Starting a recovery week with now walking, hopefully the diet part of the program will still be effective on its own.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Half Way There

Five weeks into the program and I'm halfway to my 13 week goal of 39 pounds. Hit the scale at 191.4 which is 19.6 pounds total lost.

A very good week of training with both zones 1 & 2 goals reached. Only lost 1.8 pounds this week but continuing to improve.

Reward for all the hard work: 5 ounces of steak. First red meat in over a month. It was ok, but I think I'll do fine without it.

Pushed a little too hard on Saturday with 3 workouts totaling 13 miles. I was beat by the end of the day and after golfing Sunday morning (walked the course) I felt totally warn down. Laid on the couch watching baseball most of the day.

Weekly Summary

Total Exercise Time.....10:27:28
Zone 1....3:17:00
Zone 2...5:55:24
Zone 3...0:26:11

Total Calories Burned 4,217
Pounds lost: 1.8 (191.4)
Total Miles logged 42.11

Monday, August 29, 2011

One Month Down

One month since the cathetrization and 3 full weeks of training. I need to focus more on the zone 1 work. Total time in zone 1 was only 44 minutes. On the plus side, I exceeded Zone 2 work by over 2 hours and cut my zone 3 work in half.

Splurged and laid out $20 for a couple of pieces of Alaskan Salmon, but to tell you the truth I might just like our Lake Erie Walleye more.

I was a little disappointed with last weeks weight loss total of 1.6 pounds so I wanted to step up the workouts a little bit. I added 3 cycling workouts to the daily walks.

Weekly Summary:

Total Exercise Time: 8 hours 15 minues
Zone 1:....0:43:49
Zone 2:....5:17:57
Zone 3:...1:28:44

Total Miles Logged: 43.87
Calories Burned: 4,183
Weight Lossed: 2.8 pounds (193.2)

Next weeks goal: Improve Zone 1 work.

Monday, August 22, 2011

The Exercise Program in Full Swing

Been on the Ornish Diet for three weeks now with pretty dramatic results. Weight at time of heart catheterization was 211 and at the start of this week is down to 200. Well on my way towards my goal of 39 pounds in 13 weeks..

My program calls for 5 hours and 10 minutes of exercise per week split into two heart rate zones. Zone 1 is low intensity walking at 60-70% of maximum heart rate(98-113 bpm). Zone 2 is moderate intensity of 70-80% MHR. Since my first goal is weight loss the program calls for 2 hours per week in zone 1 and 3 hours and 10 minutes in zone 2. Zone 3 80-90% of MHR is will come into play in phase 2 of my program.

Fell a little short in zone 1 work with only 53 minutes of my 120 minute goal, but came a little closer to zone 2 goal with 2 hours and 45 minutes being only 30 minutes shy of my goal. Zone 3 which isn't even part of this program accounted for more than half of my exercise time.

Overall thou, I'm pretty happy with the results. Six hours and 27 minutes of exercise with 3,194 calories burned on the week.

Weekly Summary

Time by Zone:
Zone 1... 53:36
Zone 2... 2:44:34
Zone 3...3:38:10

Miles Logged: 26.42

Weight: 196 -1.6 pounds this week.

This weeks goal: More zone 1 & 2; less zone 3.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Dr. Bhakta

Met with Dr. Bhakta today and got great news. He reviewed the transcript from the catheterization and the previous stress test. I've been walking 3-4 miles per day for more than a week now and sticking to the diet. Dropped the weight from 211 to 200 and feeling great.

Along with my test results, I gave the doctor a copy of my spreadsheet of my workout log. Since the stress test showed plenty of blood getting to all areas of the heart he felt it was perfectly fine for me to resume playing baseball He said that playing ball was less stress than the walking I've been doing. I was so happy to get that news, I forgot about asking him if it was OK to do the horizontal mamba again.

Dr. Bhakta was very familiar with the Ornish diet and thought my course of action was a good one. He also said that bypass surgery did very little to reduce the risk of dying from a heart attack. He told me of a recent study where half the patients received bypass and the other half were treated with drugs. Incidents of heart attacks were nearly identical in the two groups.

An echo-cardiogram was ordered and it was agreed we would review progress after 90 days.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Test Results in

Met with Dr. Patel today to review the results from last Thursday's catheterization. Test showed 60-70% blockage in the left main coronary artery. We discussed options and he felt that bypass surgery was my best option. I asked him if he had ever heard about Dr. Ornish's reversing diet. He didn't and his main concern was that the type of plaque I had was a softer plaque that could break loose and cause a heart attack.

In discussing the diet and medication option, he felt that most people don't have the discipline to follow such a stringent diet. He doesn't know me! After all I was so obsessed with running in high school that I had a streak of running at least 2 miles per day with an average of 6 miles per day over a 800 day period. That's not missing a day in nearly 3 years, rain, snow, blistering heat and numbing cold.

He prescribed a beta blocker to lower my heart rate, aspirin and cholesterol lowering medication and was ok with waiting a couple months to see what affect the diet, exercise and medication program has.

I was leaning toward taking the doctors advise and scheduling the surgery and even went as far calling the Cleveland Clinic to get on the schedule, but told the Doctor I wanted to get a 2nd opinion and asked him to refer me to a good cardiologist. He recommended Dr. Bhatka at UH Geneva. Appointment next Monday.

Ok to start walking, but no sex or baseball. Bummer, the team was starting to win and I was really zoned in at the plate.

We've been on the Ornish program for almost a week now. Did cheat a little bit when we shared a grilled chicken breast in a salad. It's not too bad, grocery shopping takes a lot longer because we find ourselves reading the labels on everything. Pretty shocking that crap I've been putting in the temple all these years.

Friday, July 29, 2011

A whole new life style

No, I'm not turning gay! Just changing the way I eat and exercise. Went online and found out what I could about Dr. Ornish's heart healing diet. In a nutshell no animal products except egg whites and fat free milk and exercise 30 minutes a day. The diet's slogan is "Eat More Weigh Less"

Not a decision I'm taking lightly or without risks. Immediate goal is to drop about 40 pounds and about the same amount of cholesterol. Thirty five years of the "Good Life" has taken it's toll. May 28th, 1976 when I got married I weighed 128 pounds. A little over 2 pounds a year has made this man fat. Now I'm hoping to drop 3 pounds a week by eating right and exercising daily.

Ordered several of Dr. Ornish's books and found a bunch of vegetarian recipes that look pretty tasty. It's definitely going to be a challenge though.

As soon as the gaping wound in my groin heals, the walking will start.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Heart Catheterization

Met with Dr. Dorosti at the Cleveland Clinic. A very experienced doctor from Iran who graduated from medical school in Tehran in 1967 but performed his internship at the Jewish Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY.

Dr. Dorosti reviewed my chart and family history and concurred that a cath was in order. He explained what was going on and what the risks of the procedure were and we decided to go forward with the test the next day.

The next day we went back to the Cleveland Clinic and got prepped for the test and when I was moved to the cath department I had two other patients before me so I had to wait about two hours.

Finally the time arrives and as I'm lying on the table in the procedure room with all of this high tech equipment all around me, I have my first real thoughts of my mortality. Although the percentages are very small, about 1 in 1,000 of these procedures are not survived. When the procedure started, I was prepared to die but not afraid to. I had lived a good life, raised two of the best kids a father could ever ask for. I am fully awake through the procedure watching the monitors and seeing the probe enter different sections of the heart. I was even able to carry on a conversation with the doctor. It was almost like I was in the movie "Fantastic Voyage" from the mid 60's when A diplomat is nearly assassinated. In order to save him, a submarine is shrunken to microscopic size and injected into his blood stream with a small crew.

The test confirms a blockage of 60-70% in my left main coronary artery, but much less blockage in the other arteries. The blockage was not in an area conducive to placing a stint, so the test was ended.

The Options: After reviewing the film of the procedure, the doctor came to talk with us and gave us 3 options. First option was to have a couple of stints placed in the artery with the blockage, but it was complicated by a branch off. One stint would be placed above the branch and a 2nd below. The procedure could be done, but there was a chance the two stints could grow together and cause a total blockage.

Option 2 was to have a bypass procedure where the would take a mammary artery and sew it to the heart above and below the blockage, thus bypassing it.

Option 3 was to use medication to lower the risks of heart atack.

The Doctor felt the the bypass surgery was my best option, but that I should think it over and decide. My current condition was not life threatening at the moment, so I had a little time. On the way home from the hospital I called one of my baseball teammates who is a doctor and told him what they found. He suggested a consider a fourth option which involves a rather significant life style change of diet and exorcise, specifically a program by Dr. Dean Ornish, a cardiologist who developed a diet program that has been clinically proven to reverse heart disease.

Monday, July 18, 2011

CTA Results

Doctor Patel's office calls and the doctor wants to see me today. The results are back and he has some concerns. Analysis of the CTA scan are back and there is evidence of some significant blockage. Doc now wants me to have a heart catheterization to determine the extent and location of any blockage. When he asks if I had a preference of where I wanted to have it done, I said "The Cleveland Clinic" before he could even finish the sentence. After all we have perhaps the most renowned heart hospital in the world in our back yard, why not take advantage of it.

The Illusive CTA Scan

Based on the results of my stress test, the doctor wanted me to have a CTA scan of the heart. It gives a much better picture of the blood flow through the heart. I showed up for the test knowing that there wasn't anything wrong, after all a couple weeks earlier I was out running with my grand daughter who was preparing to go out for the junior high cross country team. We kept a decent pace and I was out of breath when we finished, but no chest pains and I recovered after a few minutes.

The test requires that they give you a drug to lower your heart rate below 60 then inject a radioactive material and take a scan of your heart. My heart rate before the test was 62. The nurse was confident that I would only need a single dose and we'd be on our way. She had had a little trouble finding a good vein for the large needle required for the test, but finally felt we had a good one and gave me the first dosage. My heart rate dropped, but did not stay below 60 so she injected another dosage. That was my first clue that things weren't going well. Finally after a third dose, I was declared ready. They wheel me into the nuclear medicine department for the CTA scan and position me in the scanner.

A minute into the test my arm starts to ache and they immediately stop the test. The technician noticed that my left bicep had a strong resemblance to Arnold's in his prime. I had an "infiltration" or a blowout of the vein at the injection site. We would have to redo the test next week.

Test 2: I show up for the test and am in the waiting room and the technician comes out to tell me that the CTA machine was broke and that I'd have to reschedule because the part had to be ordered.

Test 3: Again I show up for the test and guess what! Yep, the machine is broke again, but the repair man was there fixing it and I could wait or reschedule. I decided to wait. Finally got the test complete after 3 failed attempts to find a suitable vein.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

First hint

June 2011: Following my scheduled 5 year colonoscopy I went to my family doctor to review the results. A couple of non cancerous polyps were removed and all seemed well with the world. It had been a few years since my last visit, so the doctor asked how I was feeling otherwise. I told him that I was getting pretty winded when I ran the bases while playing baseball. I had been feeling this way for the past few seasons and just figured that I was out of shape since my breathing would return to normal after a couple pitches.

Well the doctor said that since I was getting "Up in years" that it would probably be a good idea to have a stress test. so we ordered one.

The test: Certain that I was just a little out of shape, I went into the test with a very positive frame of mind. Everything seemed to go perfectly. It took over 8 minutes to get my heart rate up to the 140 bpm target and I had absolutely no fatigue or shortness of breath. Two days later, I get a call from the doctors office saying that the doctor would like to see me today. Shit, this can't be good.

The stress test has three parts, first they inject you with a dye and take a scan of your heart before exercise, following the dye test they put you on a treadmill and have you walk until your heart rate gets to a certain point, all the time monitoring your heart on an ekg machine. Finally you go back and do another scan of the heart so that they can compare before and after images. The dye part of the test showed no abnormalities, however there were a couple of blips on the ekg when my heart rate got up around 137. Doc wants another test :(