Heart Stent

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

Getting an angiogram and likely stent today. I hope it works. I have been feeling crumby for weeks. A chemical stress test scan showed a partial blockage in one ventrical artery under stress.

It better work. I am moving out of state Tuesday.

 

 

[GeeGee 79]

Good luck with that. Hope it all go's well for you.

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

Thanks!

[jacko 8,822]

I remember MM having to have one fitted, woke up not feeling well one morning and drove himself to the hospital if I recall correctly.

He posted a good report about it. 

 

[forcebwithu 4,856]

I remember too MM posting about driving himself to the hospital while having a heart attack. Found the post. Hope all goes well for you @midlifecrisis.

 

[graymatter 153]

MLC................. Good luck.   I had a 100% blocked artery in the left ventricle and ended up with three stents to fix the problem.

The operation was interesting because I was awake the entire time.

The action wasn't in my chest  but in the groin area which was strange to me. You lie on the bench with about 6 medico's studying your tackle. No time for niceties, if things are in the way they just grab it and move it. You get more action than a hand job in Windmills Of course you don't think about this with a big screen over your chest with live action of our heart. 

The procedure is to insert a wire through the "Venous" in the groin and track it through the body to the heart. I gotta tell you that lying on the table while some guy has a wire connecting your balls to your heart  is surreal. When they say please don't move you DONT move. They have another tube in the artery on the right hand side which feeds a dye into your blood to show up on the screen so you are pretty well pinned down.  Of course the operation took over 8 hours and  I had a serious urge to pee which i resisted but this sensation made me forget about what else was happening. Meanwhile the nurses putting in the dye moved my tackle one way and the ones doing the stent would move things the other way.

Finally the operation was over and everyone was patting themselves on the back looking very relieved. They had told me that there would be no problems but i'm not sure that the looks on their faces reflected this. I think I'd rather not know. 

So after the operation I am wheeled back to the recovery room and they get a couple of large G clamps to affix me to the bed. Apparently once they open up the "Venous" arteries the hard part is stopping the blood from coming out. During the operation they use  blood thinners to get the flow  happening but this makes clotting difficult. I had a nurse either side applying pressure to the groin for about an hour and then the G clamps were applied.

Did I mention the urge to Pee  because it is now over 9 hours  since the operation started and I was uncomfortable. It was a pity because the nurses were cute and I might have enjoyed the sensation. There were about 8 nurses in the recovery room and at one stage I had to admit that I needed a piss so one nurse rushed of to get me a bottle. I am still attached to the bed with G clamps so I can see a problem. I have relied on gravity to aid taking a pee all my life so using the bottle was going to be a problem.a pretty young thing  help by putting the bottle over my dick and she left with a smile. A Lot of things went through my mind but  the shape of the bottle  the length of my dick and the position in the bed led me to the conclusion that piss was going to flow everywhere so I asked for more help. Unfortunately my hopes were dashed when a young Indian male nurse agreed to hold my dick and direct the flow into the bottle. I try not to relive this experience.

This all happened three years ago and I am getting along well so I am grateful to all the staff at the Queen Elizabeth II  medical centre in Perth.

I just hope that the outcome is as good as mine or any one needing this heart surgery.

[teelack 9,645]

Friend of mine has had six so far. He's in his early seventies and is playing 18 holes at least once a week. His quality of life is very good and I hope that can look forward with the same optimism.

Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

[wacmedia 277]

Hi,

Hope all goes well.

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

Guys. They did the angiogram and although I have some buildup of plaque on the artery walls, they said I was not a candidate for a stent.

Graymatter. They prepped my groin but they went in through my right wrist. This doctor is among the few I think using this technique. It speeds up recovery I was told. They said sometimes with the wrist method they can't turn a corner and the fallback is the groin. 

So, why am I feeling shitty? Why the bad palpitations? Why a stress test which showed an occluded artery? When I move north Tuesday I will have to find another cardiologist. More questions than answers. However, I am not going to have a heart attack. 

I can't use my wrist for a few days because of fear of bleeding from the artery. I am strapped to a board - fingers free.

My cath lab experience was similar. I was awake the whole time. they sandbagged by extremities to prevent moving. Very mild sedation. One really cute and friendly Hmong nurse. We have a lot of Hmong immigrants here in Fresno.

Anyway, thanks to all. With the test I know that at age 68 I have some heart disease but it appears to be not as bad as the doctors expected so I am going to move north, eat heart healthier and get more exercise. Certainly being retired I sit more. My neighbor stopped by and told me to keep moving and that sitting is the new smoking.

[Bazle 1,500]

2 hours ago, midlifecrisis said:

Guys. They did the angiogram and although I have some buildup of plaque on the artery walls, they said I was not a candidate for a stent.

Graymatter. They prepped my groin but they went in through my right wrist. This doctor is among the few I think using this technique. It speeds up recovery I was told. They said sometimes with the wrist method they can't turn a corner and the fallback is the groin. 

So, why am I feeling shitty? Why the bad palpitations? Why a stress test which showed an occluded artery? When I move north Tuesday I will have to find another cardiologist. More questions than answers. However, I am not going to have a heart attack. 

I can't use my wrist for a few days because of fear of bleeding from the artery. I am strapped to a board - fingers free.

My cath lab experience was similar. I was awake the whole time. they sandbagged by extremities to prevent moving. Very mild sedation. One really cute and friendly Hmong nurse. We have a lot of Hmong immigrants here in Fresno.

Anyway, thanks to all. With the test I know that at age 68 I have some heart disease but it appears to be not as bad as the doctors expected so I am going to move north, eat heart healthier and get more exercise. Certainly being retired I sit more. My neighbor stopped by and told me to keep moving and that sitting is the new smoking.

Get yourself a Fitbit, or equivalent.

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

4 minutes ago, Bazle said:

Get yourself a Fitbit, or equivalent.

Will do! I need a new watch. Their top of the line is $160 on Amazon!

[Bazle 1,500]

2 hours ago, midlifecrisis said:

Will do! I need a new watch. Their top of the line is $160 on Amazon!

I had a Fitbit but got rid of it in favour of a Garmin Vivosport, which I much prefer. 

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

4 hours ago, Bazle said:

I had a Fitbit but got rid of it in favour of a Garmin Vivosport, which I much prefer. 

Why? The cost is about the same so it must be features. I know nothing about either.

[Bazle 1,500]

12 hours ago, midlifecrisis said:

Why? The cost is about the same so it must be features. I know nothing about either.

The Garmin has its own GPS (i.e. does not use your 'phone's).

You can switch off Bluetooth on the Garmin. 

In fact, you never need use Bluetooth as you can hardwire to your computer.