... saw my cardiologist yesterday .Do I remember everything he said? No, but that's okay. I'm sure that he does .

He said that, in preparation for my appointment, he went through all of the tests I've had done once again. He whipped out the plethora of reports and went over everything page-by-page.

He explained the diff. between hard and soft plaque. Looking at everything, recordings, scans, labwork, in sum...

His opinion is: I'm not going to suddenly drop dead. He's not concerned about any type of plaque killing me. He told me: "Go celebrate. If all of my patients came back with scores like yours, I'd be happy. You have bragging rights."

The heart/lung scan and monitoring picked up my PVCs (premature ventricular contractions) and PACs (premature atrial contractions). Generally, not a prob. for most, yet he said that because mine are so symptomatic, along with my mitral valve prob., the beta blocker (I've been on) should continue to help.

My PACs, he suspects, are caused by stress (excitement, etc. - considering I don't consume caffiene, etc.). He also said that my pain medications could be contributing but that he prefers that I not be in pain, so stay with the medications.

Two things not looking so good are my glucose and HDL (good cholesterol) levels. And, he differs from my PCP in that he said Niacin is what I should be taking, not Omega3 - to get the HDL level up.

The glucose? Not sure what to do about that other than doctors keeping an eye on it; my maternal grandfather was diabetic.

I did exactly as the doc suggested: I celebrated. I bought myself two bouquets: pink and purple carnations. (Luv 'em.)