Re: Cardiac catheterization

jlkz · ‎12-02-2013

DH has had several of these done since 1996. He now has 12 or more stents in place. The technology of the entire process had improved so much as had so many other procedures!

For each procedure he has been asleep....meanwhile, I was pacing the waiting room unable to concentrate.

Early experience was the many hours-long stationary position after the procedure. Now, recovery is much quicker.

Early stents had one drawback for some folks. DH was one of those but we were lucky that they had begun to use irradiated stents. So, in the dead of night we drove to the Washington Heart Hospital and the new type stent replaced the problem one.

( Problem: the stent is a tiny tube with holes all around. Sometimes the inner walls of the artery would begin to grow through the holes and eventually impede the flow of blood. )

It was a little before 7 AM when we opened the door to the waiting area and found about 70 people already waiting ! Afterwards, when I went to see him in the Recovery room, there were so many folks coming out of the anesthesia !

Looking at the film of the first procedure was the worst thing for me: I was standing and started to pass out.

So @marip, you should know things have come a long way since the early cardiac catheterizations and your procedure should go well.

A few days after DH's first procedure we were at the shore with close friends. There at 8 AM he was outside washing their and our cars....his energy level was that high thanks to the increased blood flow with the stent !

The hardest part has to be the waiting before the procedure for the patient and the waiting during the loved one's procedure ! Be well !

We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
Sir Winston Churchill