"Transesophageal Echocardiogram." Pretty impressive term huh? It means, "We are going to shove a hose about the size of your little finger down your throat so we can get an up-close and personal look at that leaky valve."

It really isn't as bad as it sounds. They have good drugs for this sort of thing, and once they put the IV in your arm you're pretty much good to go. All I really remember is talking to the nice nurses and then my vision started to narrow-quickly. I said "OK, Bye." and the next thing I remember is waking up.

In the cloudy stupor I remember the Dr saying, "We are gonna have to fix that."
But first....MORE tests.

Today I go down to the hospital for an Echocardiogram. Interesting process. Basically they smear this goop on your chest and run a microphone looking thing around in the goop so they can look at an echo picture of the heart and the valves doing their thing. The technician says, "Um, we need to have a Dr take a look at this." Not exactly encouraging news. I was expecting something more like, "This looks great, I think your doctor must have made a mistake."

Anyway he comes in, looks at the pictures and says, "Hmmm, Mitral Valve Prolapse with Regurgitation." I say, "Once again in English please."

He explains that there is large valve that opens when the heart pumps that allows blood to run though the system, then slams shut until the next pump. Mine is dropping down so that the blood runs back into my heart. Not a good thing.
He says, "We're going to need to fix that." But first...We need MORE tests. I get to come back for something called a TEE. I'll keep you posted.