Nuclear stress tests (#259, Topic D)

Nuclear, as a word, is very much in the news. If a reader wanders onto this entry on the assumption that it deals with fatigue caused by nuclear tests in the conventional sense, one would be greatly disappointed; I apologize. Two years ago, on the eve of my scheduled visit to Shanghai to partake three events -- the wedding of one of my nephews, the 70th anniversary of the now-defunct high school from which I graduated, and the 6th world reunion of alumni of St. John's University, a school which also no longer exists) -- I was asked to do a stress test on the treadmill. I failed the test, necessitating an angioplasty with stent (my second in 8 years) within days and the cancellation of my trip to China. Last year, after we moved to the retirement community, I decided to change my cardiologist to one close to the Washington Hospital Center, where both my angioplasty operations were performed, and to which I would likely be sent if another operation would be needed in the future. A former classmate of our daughter's, who became a cardiologic surgeon after Yale, is a member in a cardiology partnership having an office in WHC -- she actually visited me, during my stay there two years ago, at least once a day. She gave us a referral, the head of another cardiology partnership practicing in an office building next to WHC. After an initial visit two weeks ago, I went there today to do my nuclear stress tests (so written in the instruction sheet I received earlier) -- in addition to the conventional stress test on a treadmill, there was imaging of my heart and other monitoring activities. On the treadmill, the goal set for me was to reach 120 heart beats per minute without being stressed out. (I learned from one of the technicans that the goal is established by (1) substracting one's age from 220, and (2) multiplying the remainder by .85. In my case, the resulting product is 120.) I was on the treadmill for 7 minutes: stage 1, slow with a small incline, 3 minutes; stage 2, faster with a slightly higher incline, 3 minutes; and stage 3, much faster with a pronounced incline (necessitating my moving as if running), 1 minute. Whether I should have stayed for 3 minutes on stage 3 (meaning that the actual test was cut short), I had no idea. After reviewing my test results, my cardiologist proclaimed me that I have passed. I was told that my heart was/is pumping at 78% efficiency, said to be in the top 1 percentile (probably for my age group, though he did not say so), as the average is 55%. So, I guess I still have a few more years to live, allowing me to finish the book or two I hope to do before I say goodbye to the world.