I Heart You

So it's Valentine season again.  Men are rushing to local supermarkets in search of a card that says that "something special", even though they've waited until the last minute.  Women are posting pics of flowers on social media, and getting into a restaurant tomorrow night will be next to impossible unless it's fast food.  I am celebrating "Gal"entine's Day with my daughter.  Love that kid.

My mind  has been on another heart issue this week.  Many, many years ago I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse.  What that means is my valves close in a different way, allowing more blood to flow to my heart than "regular people".  This was the way it was described to me...I'm very visual, so it helped... put your hands in a teepee position.  That's what normal valves look like when closed.  Now curve your fingers in and down so they look like the top of a heart shape, keeping your fingertips touching.  That's what mine does.

What's all that mean?  Well, my heart races periodically, but not because I see Mr. Right across a crowded room.  There is also some dizziness that accompanies the rapid heart rate.  No biggie. For the past few weeks, I've been feeling things more than normal, so in I went for a check up.  I had:

• an EKG in my primary care physician's office.
• an Echocardiogram in a cardiologist's office (think sonogram of the heart.  This was pretty cool and the tech was a nice kid who talked to me about what I was seeing.)
• a heart monitor.  This one is irritating a little because I can't shower for two days.  I wear it and it records my heart's activity.  

Why the glimpse into my personal life?  I figure if this has happened to you and you  come across this post, it will set your mind at ease a bit.  (stress makes MVP worse :-)).   And really, there is nothing to worry about because there is nothing that can be done.  These types of things have a chance of becoming worse as one ages, ultimately resulting in heart surgery to replace the valve.  If that ever happens, I figure I will deal with it until then.  And who knows what cardiology will look like in the future.  With advancements in medicine happening exponentially all the time, it could be a quick simple fix, if and when I need it.  

Now, the request that I give up caffeine and chocolate...um....not too sure about that one.  I might need a 12 step program for that.  Lol.