Sorry, I couldn't help myself. As you will have noticed, the title of this post is a quote from the classic Feargal Sharkey hit from the 80s. But that's not the point here. The thing is that I took my son to the doctor a few days ago. Nothing serious. The doctor seemed to have plenty of time, at least he offered me to have a short medical examination, since I was already there. I accepted, of course, and the results showed that I was perfectly fine. Except there seemed to be something wrong with a small organ called heart. According to my doctor, my heartbeat sounded nothing like the heartbeat of a human being.
I was sent to a heart specialist who examined me thoroughly. He used dozens of cables to connect me to a computer before putting me on a stationary bike for some 15 minutes, while he observed all kinds of numbers and values on the screen. After that I had an ultra sound scanning or what ever it is called. The specialist's conclusion was that my heart was too big. "Is it good or bad?" I asked. The answer, obviously, was that it could be either good or bad. Luckily for me, it seems that in my case it is not harmful. An overgrown heart may be an indication of some severe problems. However, when people have been involved in endurance sports for a long time, their hearts may grow bigger than hearts usually do. In those cases, this overgrowth is usually not dangerous. Or that's how I understood it.
The doctor told me just to keep on with my normal life, train as I usually train. From now on, though, I need to see him once a year to have my big heart checked. And pay for it. Still, I kind of remember someone telling me that participating in sports would "keep the doctor - and his bill - away".
No comments:
Post a Comment