Cardiologist Appointment Today

I learn something new every day.   When visiting a cardiologist today, I learned several new things:

1. Yes, the Flomax might be why my breathlessness increased.  No, the heart is not smooth muscle -- nor is striated muscle.  It is its own unique muscle category.  However, some of the muscles around the heart's arteries are smooth muscle.

2. The heart is a redundant system, in some respects.  There is a left nerve bundle and a right nerve bundle.  My left nerve bundle is inoperative.  Instead, the right nerve bundle is doing all the work -- making my heart work harder, but people with inoperative left nerve bundles live for decades.  I did not ask him what happens if the right nerve bundle shuts down, because I am pretty sure that I know the answer on that.

3. My cardiologist has the humility to admit that he does not know what this noise is.  He thinks it is mitral valve, but it might be the valve that sends the blood out to the body.  He seemed reluctant to commit to something as simple as mitral valve prolapse.  I have an echocardiogram scheduled for Thursday, so that he can see what is really going on with this.