Week 18, Day 6

   Now when people ask how I feel, I tell them, "My cardiologist says I'm fine." And if he thinks I'm OK, then I'm OK. 

   I talked with my cardiologist, Dr. Edward Spangenthal, on Monday after an EKG and after questioning by his nurse Dawn and stethoscope listens by him and his assistant Evelyn. The twinges I've been feeling in my chest, he said, are nothing to worry about. The EKG was good. The heart sounded good. A blood enzyme test turned up nothing. 

   So twinges and all, I should stop worrying. Heart-wise, I'm good to go for surgery the following week, on Wednesday, June 3. I'll find out all about it Friday at the pre-op get-together with the surgeon, Dr. Guru. 

   The entire visit at Roswell Park Cancer Institute was unexpectedly quick and easy, less than an hour. I barely got to crack open my New Yorker magazine before I was called in for the EKG. The hard part was setting up the appointment.

   Health proxy Bill Finkelstein started calling Dr. Spangenthal's office at Buffalo Medical Group at 8:30 a.m. Monday, sat on hold for 45 minutes twice, then got through just to be told that he sees patients at Roswell Park only on Mondays and Thursdays and his schedule was full. 

   But then Bill did an end run -- a conference call to Amey, the assistant to Dr. William Morris, the man who inserted the stents in my heart. She heard about my twinges, made a call, then got back to us. Get to Roswell Park as soon as you can, she said. By any means necessary, as Spike Lee puts it at the end of his movies. Sho nuff.