Use Your Sunscreen

OK boys & girls, listen up. Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer. It's also the most easily treated and the least likely to spread. Monday I visited a dermatologist (who used to live in Sally & Chuck's ward in Diamond Bar!). Dr. Peterson used the "surgical excision" method to remove the cancerous tissue from my back. Using local anesthesia, he cut out (in the shape of a football) the cancerous tissue and a surrounding margin (5 mm) of healthy skin. I now have five stitches - a nice trade: one cancerous tumor for five stitches. I'll make that trade any day of the week.

But that's old news. Today's news is from my "Bicycle Stress Test" in Mt Pleasant. In the hospital's "exercise laboratory." The doc first recorded my heart rate and blood pressure while at rest. Then electrodes were attached to my chest, shoulders and hips which were hooked up to the EKG part of the Stress test machine. He then did an ultrasound of my heart (which, on the screen, looked a lot like Jabba the Hut). He then had me get on the bike and peddle at around 50 rpm to warm up. He then asked me to get the rpms up to around 60 to raise my heart rate up to the "target" rate of 140 beats per minute (the formula is 220 minus your age and take 85% of that). All the while he's recording all the EKG stuff on a printout that kind of looked like a seismograph printout. He said, "You must be in great shape, because your heart rate won't go above 109 bpm." So after increasing the bike's rpms to around 80, I finally got my heart rate up to the target of 140. He then had me stop peddling and immediately did another ultrasound of my heart. Throughout the entire process he took my blood pressure several times (which he declared as "perfect"). The preliminary results look great. I'll hear more about it in the next few days after they study the results, so I'll have an update then.