Y'know, I have absolutely no idea what the technology was, either for
the stress test nuclear part, or the actual catheterization. Probably
best I didn't know, as it only would have given me more to noodle
about while lying there. <g> I think of myself as being a curious
fellow, but sometimes my curiosity stays in its holster and absolutely
refuses to come out.
--Bob Whitmire
Putting the ART back in HeART
www.bobwhitmire.com
On Jun 16, 2010, at 5:29 PM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> Been there, done that a few times in addition to having my chest
> sliced
> open 12 years ago. I'm surprised at your comment about a camera.
> Anytime I had it done it was with fluoroscopy
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoroscopy> with an on-screen monitor
> image that I could clearly see and fairly well interpret myself.
> Anyhow, except for the time I had my chest sliced open the procedure
> was
> followed by a stent. Those didn't always work (they clogged up soon
> after) which is why I've been there more than once. The last time
> was 5
> years ago after a 2 year delay in waiting for adequate stocks of a
> drug
> eluting stent. Drug eluting stents were in short supply then and they
> don't know what size they need until they get in there. That seems to
> have worked but they have since discovered some undesirable side
> effects
> of these.
>
> If I knew then what I know now (I've studied a lot over the past dozen
> years) I'd have asked for a second and even a third opinion on
> having my
> (triple) bypass surgery. They had me and my wife scared to death at
> the
> time but I didn't actually have a heart attack and I think the data
> show
> that bypass surgery doesn't actually show any improvement in overall
> mortality. But the hospital sells what services it has to offer by
> whomever is available at the time at least for them what's covered by
> good insurance.
>
> Oh, BTW, my surgery started very late... seems the surgeon was up ALL
> night attending to emergency cases. It's 12 years later and my chest
> still aches when I exercise. But it isn't angina. My current GP says
> maybe chostochronditis or damaged nerves in the rib cage from the
> surgery. None of the doctors at the hospital would ever venture a
> guess
> as to what was wrong with my chest. I had to leave the area and get
> different doctors before anyone would tell me "I think it could
> be...".
> Incidentally, this was not an East Podunk hospital. It was Mt Auburn
> Hospital in Cambridge, MA, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital.
> So much for the practice of medicine in the US. :-)
>
> Watch out for them guys with the knives. They have a very vested
> interest in using them which may not be in your interest at all.
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
> Bob Whitmire wrote:
>> Well, this past Saturday morning, like Alice, I tumbled down the
>> rabbit hole. Chest pains, sweats and such. Doc said go to the ER. Off
>> I went. Tests at local hospital didn't show anything conclusive, but
>> the hospitalist told me I should stay in the hospital until Monday
>> morning and then do a stress test. Come Monday morning I did the new
>> and improved nuclear medicine stress test, and apparently passed with
>> flying colors. Proud to say, I went the distance, nothing obvious
>> showed up, and the doc said I had the exercise capacity of a health
>> 60-
>> year-old man. WoooHooo!
>>
>> However (you knew that was coming, didn't you).
>>
>> The stress test results are sent to cardiology at Maine Med in
>> Portland, which apparently is one of the country's top heart
>> hospitals. The hospitalist showed up in my room to tell me they
>> "found
>> something" that appeared to be an occlusion in the lower quadrant of
>> the heart. The cardiologist's best guess was a 70 percent chance of
>> blockage. Most of you know what that means: cardiac catheterization.
>>
>> That damned rabbit hole got deep quickly. Before dark I was in an
>> ambulance headed for Maine Med.
>>
>> Cardiac unit, Maine Med. Cardiologist came around to talk about the
>> procedure, scheduled for noon Tuesday. He said based on his reading
>> he
>> was not really expecting to find anything. Turns out stress tests are
>> highly reliable if they're normal, but not so much if they are
>> abnormal. Too much stuff in the body to occlude the images. So,
>> despite having a roommate from Hell (too long a story to tell
>> here), I
>> survived until Tuesday. Note they didn't let me eat anything from
>> supper Monday night at Miles until a very late lunch on Tuesday at
>> Maine Med.
>>
>> The procedure was a breeze. Very cool. Some of you may already have
>> had it done. I was fully conscious. While I was still on the table,
>> the cardiologist stuck his head around the camera and told me he
>> hoped
>> his own heart looked as good. So they cut me loose after making me
>> lie
>> on my back for four hours. Right after the procedure, a nurse had to
>> apply pressure to the entry site (the groin) for about twenty
>> minutes.
>> Hard pressure. I told her I hoped they were paying her a lot of
>> money.
>>
>> I couldn't tell whether the camera they used was an Olympus.
>>
>> So now I'm back in place, with orders to take it easy for a few days.
>>
>> That shouldn't be hard.
>>
>> --Bob Whitmire
>> www.bobwhitmire.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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