Healthcare Savvy

There’s nothing like convenience—especially when you can get electrodes applied in the office.

I was born with congenital heart disease and every few years, a cardiologist wants a 24-hour monitoring of my heart—done through something called a holter monitor. I’ve had two monitors recently and let me tell you—it’s been the most convenient test I’ve had in years.

Just last week, a nurse visited me here at WBUR and we locked ourselves in the breast-milk pumping room (thankfully with no windows). I stripped off my shirt and within five minutes, she had applied four electrodes to my chest and clipped the monitoring device onto my jeans. Twenty-four hours later, I dropped the electrodes and the device into a FedEx envelope (provided and paid for by the hospital) and sent it off to be read and analyzed. No doctor’s visits, no extra trips to labs, not even a trip to the post office.

I work on a daily show and with our tight deadlines, it can be quite difficult to get away for doctor’s appointments.

But by next week, I should have my results—via email, of course.