Learning Something New: Dobutamine Stress Echo (DSE)

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Some people when come to health challenges they are reacting nothing but discontent and inconvenience; but to me, it is a perfect way to learn something new to share to those who are curious and willing to add on a little additional knowledge in their lives.

Today is no different – because my mom needs to have a special stress test to ensure her heart is ready for corneal transplant when the time comes

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^{This is written in Malay language}

Usually what we hear about cardiac stress test we always hear about treadmills, breathing test with ECG; however, recently there is a new method called the Dobutamine Stress Echo (DSE) which is inducing medicine into the blood stream that will artificially cause the heart to pump faster till the max heartbeat before performing a 3D scan of the heart for any blockages and monitor the heart rate.

Another new thing to learn: 220-[current age] = max heart rate

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So, if you want to test and see whether you are overstressing your heart or not, this is the formula.

This can be both good and bad: Good is if the person is severely obese, then they do not have to damage their joints while doing physical stress test as they have not been really physically active; however it is a 50-50 chances for seniors that they might have an allergic reaction so usually the hospital will give a sort of antihistamine medication (that may clash with a lot of other regular medication including blood thinners) 12 hours prior to prep the body to be ready.

And my mom needed to have that because she is a Steven Johnson Syndrome survivor of 17 years.

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^{Long queue of registration}

The procedure almost took us the whole day despite we left home before the break of dawn for an hour drive to reach to the specialist hospital, took all the long queue in the morning, registering, and more queues; not because it was massive group of people testing, but because each patient requires 1 – 2 hours to complete the procedure.

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^{Mom endured pain while the nurses had a hard time finding the Vena blood vein due fasting for the procedure (blood vein shrunk)}

From checking blood pressure, inducing medication, performing stress test, and allowing them to rest on hospice bed for at least 30 minutes.

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^{Mom knocked out for a good few minutes after fighting hard to calm down when the heart was still beating so fast after the procedure}

Mom was a real trooper facing it with Jesus, plus with an additional (unplanned) loving surprise call from @aikido.hung that made her day the night before, she was ready for anything. 💪🏼

We prayed all the way there and back at home, and thank God that she passed the test enough for the hospital to issue a letter of “no abnormalities found” to the hospital that is going to proceed with the cornea transplant on her.

Now we need $ USD 1,318 (procedure fee + transport), a healthy cornea, patience, and full trust in God

Every day is a day of miracle for us since 2019 when the ophthalmologist prompted us that my mom’s cornea might “crack” due to corneal dystrophy; and now after hurdles after hurdles, we might come to the most important pitstop ever: The Cornea Transplant procedure

That is, when, there is a healthy cornea available from a healthy specimen

Due to the fact that those who died from covid is no longer a “healthy specimen” (despite of young age) because no one knows the length of destruction this virus has caused with weaken / amok immune system (causing past hidden illnesses to surface and attack the body till death) the amount of available cornea for transplant around the world is getting lesser. Apparently, this also includes any deceased who “abused” their cornea with wearing contact lens history, and it also opt out.