First cardiologist visit - Cac score

Ask the Dr. to Slow down when explaining
Talk to me in layman's terms
Ask Ask Ask Questions. If need write it down
Good Luck

My ask: Would you or your staff please point me to, or issue to me in printed form, literature so that I can educate myself and learn of the importance of what you're telling me?'

I like to check the doctor’s education background and curriculum.
Good to ask them how they can be contacted outside hours or through
MyChart on call service. How you rank on the cardiac risk scale if they have access to your prior labs and cardiograms.

My score was high (98th percentile) and I did a lot of reading on my own before I ever met with a cardiologist. ( I had to ask my PA for an appointment with a cardiologist.)

Turned out to not be so useful. My cardiologist is symptom driven, and not prevention minded, though I guess that's a pretty sloppy characterization. By my laymen take, the things I want to track that none of my caregivers seemed concerned about were blood sugar and apoB. I had to ask for both. I had a one-time consult at Mayo and they measured lp(a). I don't think I'd have gotten one otherwise (or even known it was important). These seem like big things to me. So I guess I'd ask what s/he likes to monitor, or more broadly, what their approach is to a high CAC score. I'd also ask what dietary and exercise guidance they have for you. You can learn this for yourself, but it will give you some indication of the cardiologist's mindset. When I asked mine whether it was OK to train for a half-marathon, his only response was "Why would you want to do that?" I eventually got him to say to keep my heart rate less than 135, which seems way too strict to me from what I've read. He's the only game in town for me unfortunately.

@bitsygirl you can get a free lp(a) test here:
https://familyheart.org/cholesterol-connect

@nonna2four Thanks for the pointer!