One Doctor Appointment Leads to Another

It’s been an interesting few months since that trip to the ER when Robert thought it would be fun to just randomly pass out. While he hasn’t had any issues where he actually passes out, he has had several times where he gets light-headed when he stands up. 

We recently had his quarterly check-in with his neurologist and mentioned what happened. It’s a partial brain thing so we wanted her to know. She didn’t think it was HD related, but a circulatory thing. She checked his blood pressure and it was 102/78. Then she had him stand up and it dropped to 98/72. Yes, the numbers are correct. That’s low! She told us that was most likely the cause of the Vagal Nerve episode. Her advice was to go back to our PCP and have some tests done to figure things out.

That led to blood work and more doctor appointments. 

First the cardiologist. He said something interesting. There is a connection between HD and your heart. Some new studies are showing that HD can impact the way the circulatory system works. I was not surprised. In my mind this makes sense. HD affects the brain so it stands to reason that it could impact any one of the systems that operate in your body. So maybe they are connected. 

The doctor gave him medication to help raise his blood pressure and put him on a heart monitor for a week. I keep joking that I am now married to IronMan. For a week, anyway. 

The second thing it revealed - or reminded us about - was his low platelet count. It has been a few years since I talked about that but you can see it on some previous blogs from May and June 2016. This is not a new thing. However, it concerned the doctors so they wanted us to go see an oncologist for further testing. 

Fortunately, she was not overly concerned by it. She says that yes his count is low by what is determined to be "normal standards" but not a huge concern. She too ordered some more tests and blood work to further assess what is going on. 

Now, we wait for test results and determine the next steps. 

One thing this experience has taught us is that we need to be vigilant in all areas of Robert's health. While it may seem like an insignificant thing and maybe not related to HD, there is still a chance that it is. It is still important to tell the doctors all the info and report anything that does not appear normal. They might be related to your current condition, but they might not be. It might be something new, but it might not be. Or, it could be something new. You won't know until you talk to the doctor about it.