On the QT(c)

All I could think of was the classic movie, "LA Confidential". Remember Danny DeVito, as gossip reporter Sid Hudgens, saying things were "off the record, on the QT and very hush-hush"? No one knows from where the slang phrase "on the QT" originated (clearly a contraction of "on the quiet"), but for me, my QTC was causing abject chaos. One's QTC is a time interval measured in your EKG. An absolute criteria for inclusion into my study was a QTC of < 450. Knowing this, I had long ago sent MSKCC my cardiogram documenting a QTC well below 450.

BUT, as it was over a month old (by one week), the always-by-the-book MSKCC had me repeat my EKG. The first few readings showed QTC's of between 460-470!!! They had me run up the block, then climb stairs, then simulate bicycling in the air, but the best we could do was 452. The EKG tech was patient, persistent and very apologetic. The research nurse then paged a cardiology fellow to "hand read" my study.

My study participation was on hold and in jeopardy. My doctor agreed to let me go through the consent process and sign the papers, but there would be no medication unless or until the EKG issue was resolved. The plan was to head home, mired in uncertainty, and hope an Evanston EKG would be normal. Why electrons would be expected to behave differently in the Midwest was quite beyond me.

As I sat in my hotel room awaiting scan #97, the research nurse called me and excitedly told me the cardiologist's reading of my QTc was 432! 

So in two weeks, I return to get my new drug. Phew!