Heart visit

I began having a bit of trouble with extrasystoles (a form of irregular heartbeat) during the very painful case of pleurisy I had in the late spring-early summer of 2006. Since then, I have experienced occasional heart flutterings and extrasystoles. I probably should have gone to see a cardiologist a long time ago, but time passes, you know how it is.  Well, I finally made an appointment and this morning went to the hospital of Camerata, nestled among the green hills directly behind my house on the way to Fiesole, for those who know Florence. That’s where I have my skeletal X-rays done, too.
 
The cardiologist I saw this morning has an excellent reputation, and I liked her very much. A very straightforward, pleasant woman who explained everything to me in simple (but not TOO simple, if you know what I mean) terms. Results of the visit: my blood pressure was perfect, my electrocardiogram was also perfect, and my heart appears to be strong and healthy.  My cholesterol is high, but that’s an inherited problem offset by my ton of "good" cholesterol, low triglycerides, and absolutely normal CRP. Physical activity is key (I already knew that). Nothing much to worry about.
 
Most of our conversation, though, ended up revolving around curcumin. Whenever I go in to see a new doctor, you see, I always bring it up. You never know. Well, my cardiologist seemed absolutely intrigued…not only by what I told her curcumin has done for me, but also about the experiments done on (sigh) lab mice with enlarged hearts (curcumin prevents heart disease, at least in lab mice!, as I wrote in a recent post). She told me she wants to do some research into the matter and jotted down my blog address. Yes!

She told me to come back to see her in six months so she could tell me what she has found out about curcumin. So I am very pleased today, for many reasons. I just took this photo of Peekaboo sitting on my desk. She looks pleased, too.

Speaking of being pleased, I have added some new links to my Pages (on the right of your screen). One of them is a collection of funny or cute videos (under my "Laughter and Immunity" page), which are mostly cat-related right now (check out the cat cartoon…), but I would be glad to add some more, so if you watch a funny video, send me the link, please. Let’s not forget that laughter gives a boost to our NK cells!

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