Anyone have a cardiac catherization?

[msdznyduck]

DH is having a cardiac cath on Wed the 8th....He was not feeling well, so went to the Dr for a physical. I told him to make sure they ran an EKG. Well, it was extremely abnormal. He ended up with a thallium stress test and an echocardiogram. Next is the cardiac cath on Wed. After that, they will tell us what else needs to be done.......angioplasty or bypass, depending on the extent of the blockage.
Thing is, he has had a stomach virus since last week, and today was the first day he has actually felt better, and was out of bed for a few hours. He is back in bed now taking a nap, since he is exhausted.

please keep us in your prayers for Wednesday.
thanks

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I've been caring for patients who've had them since 1987, nineteen years. What would you like to know? Where is he having it done (don't have to tell me the name, just the type of facility it is).

 

[Dan Murphy]

Good wishes for your hubby, Elaine. He will do well; he is in my prayers.

 

[msdznyduck]

He is having it done at the hospital I work for.........since our insurance pays for it there. The cardiac group he goes to is very good. I have heard very good things about them. If necessary, there is a very good cardiac hospital just north of here.
He is just very nervous about it. Very 'on edge'. The one thing is, he refuses to tell his family anything about it. "doesn't want to worry his mom". I finally talked him into speaking with his sister about it, just in case.
I will be so glad this is over, just another stress inducer, which is not the best thing. We have had quite a few things going on in the past few months.

 

[msdznyduck]

Just ran out to the car to get something, and saw that our purple crocus' are up. DH's favorite.......must be a sign

 

[THE HAT]

my mother had this done about 9 years ago, and my brother had it done last january.
my mother is nervous to have her teeth cleaned, so was very nervous for this procedure. she did very well, she was most nervous about being awake during it, but they gave her plenty of "relaxers" and she did very well. when she talks about it today, she said it was so much easier then she expected it to be. she was home 2 days after she had it done. (she said the hard part was just sitting still with the sand bag on her leg afterwards)
my brother went through it with no problems but, he wouldn't tell you if he was nervous, 23 years in the army will do that to a guy i guess.
he was out the following week golfing 9 holes but against dr's orders and that did end up making his recovery take longer.

my prayers and thoughts will be with all of you...please keep us informed on how you all make out with this.

 

[buzzlady]

DH had it done twice, almost 6 years ago. After a heart attack they did it and weren't able to open the artery (100% blockage). About a month later he was having pains and went back into the hospital. They found that it had opened just 1% and they were able to get through the blockage and put a stent in. He had his done at RWJ hospital. At RWJ, they have an entire unit just for caths.

Best of luck on Wed.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Tell your husband that it is natural to feel that way before any procedure like this. Chances are good, though, that when it's over he will say that it wasn't too bad. He will be uncomfortable from laying still on a hard surface for a long time, his back and groin will be sore, and he will be a bit grumpy from not eating all day.

In many cases one or more stents are placed and they're good to go home the next day, none the worse for the wear. If he needs surgery then better he have it taken care of now before an event occurs. Either way, if he does have blockages it will be important for him to work on risk factor reduction, they will give him information about it in the hospital, but if they don't he (and you) should look into it on your own since you'll want to prevent further blockages in the future. (The third scenario is that he has "clean coronaries" but if his ECG didn't look too good this would be less likely).

Best of luck to your husband, yell if I can help.

 

[SandiH]

Interesting that you post this. I am having an angiogram done on Thursday and am nervous about it as well - doing a bit of research as I type this. My main concern is that they said I would be able to go home that afternoon but if they end up doing an angioplasty and putting a stent in, will I be there overnight? From what I read, it sounds like I will so I guess I need to prepare for that possibilitiy.

 

[msdznyduck]

His cardiologist said to pack a bag 'just in case'. We can leave it in the car and if needed, I can run out and get it.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Sandi, there are some hospitals that do same day caths, or, they may be expecting not to find anything in your case. We use potent intravenous (and oral) blood thinners after stent placement to prevent them from clotting off the first 16 hours after they're placed. It is for this reason mainly that patients stay overnight. We also check hematocrits around midnight to make sure the blood thinners haven't caused a drop in those levels via a bleed somewhere. Once in a while the groin sites (or arm sites, less frequently) where they insert the catheter, bleed overnight and require further compression (LOL, we don't use sandbags anymore but rather compression sleeves) but it doesn't happen too often. Good luck with yours, too. I'd be happy to answer any general questions if I can.

 

[THE HAT]

my brother stayed overnight for his but that was due to army policy (whatever the heck that means)
and my mother stayed 2 nights but that was due to the fact that she was brought in by ambulance due to the fact she was having a heart attack that led to the cath.

my brother was told that they would have sent him home that day but weren't allowed to......so in a civilian situation he would have gone home.

 

[minkydog]

We had two very different experiences.
My dad had heart failure. The could see on his echo that there were blockages, so the purpose of th cath was to find out how bad and put in stents. When they got in there, things went bad and he ended up needing a quadruple bypass--stat! Nothing like seeing your dad come out of surgery on a ventilator He was unconscious for several days, but eventually woke up and was mentally alert. Unfortunately, he also had leukemia and he died 7 days later.

On the other hand, cardiac cath saved my hubby's life --it revealed a life-threatening electrical malfunction as well as rt heart failure. He came out with a pacemaker and immediately felt better. He 'paces" about 50% of the time now. He would have been dead without it. DH is disabled with lung disease, but he no longer struggles with heart failure. His heart ticks along with his little battery sewn into his chest.

I don't think my dad really understood the magnitude of the test--things can happen. Bad things.He didn't make any preparations, like Living Will. Just signed his name and let the doctors to their thang. Encourage your hubby to talk to his mother, at least let her know. There is a small but real chance that he may not get a second chance.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We see the sickest of the sick, including those in heart failure, many requiring heart transplants. Dye is used during the procedure, and fluid is needed to flush out the dye. If there is a drop in blood pressure, resuscitation requires fluid and even a little bit in these patients can tip them over the edge. Of course, other things can occur, but the vast majority of cases go very smoothly (the doctor gives you the exact percentages when they consent you for the procedure).

But you've illlustrated a good point. Some centers only do diagnostic caths, ie they cannot intervene because they do not have open heart surgery back up. Only centers who have the capability of doing emergent bypass can perform interventions, i.e. stents, angioplasty, laser, etc. Many of our patients have their initial caths done elsewhere and have to be transferred in for intervention. The cath is re-done, and the intervention is performed. My preference (if possible) would be to have everything done in a center that can do intervention.

 

[SandiH]

But you've illlustrated a good point. Some centers only do diagnostic caths, ie they cannot intervene because they do not have open heart surgery back up. Only centers who have the capability of doing emergent bypass can perform interventions, i.e. stents, angioplasty, laser, etc. Many of our patients have their initial caths done elsewhere and have to be transferred in for intervention. The cath is re-done, and the intervention is performed. My preference (if possible) would be to have everything done in a center that can do intervention.

That's a good point - if they find something - I would prefer them to take care of it then and there instead of having to go in again so I guess I'll call the Dr. tomorrow to see if that is truly the case. If they only do diagnostics - I will need to decide what to do from there - continue with diagnostic or wait until I can get it taken care of in one shot if need be.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

There will be a lot of factors to consider, not the least of which is how emergent the case is.

 

[JVL1018]

My son had a hole in his heart repaired via cardiac catheterization this past October.
I know he was young(4) and youger people tend to bounce back more quickly, but even so, it was a pretty easy thing(not for my nerves though!!)
He had it done at noon, came out into recovery and woke up saying his leg hurt, but he didn't even end up taking his whole dose of Tylenol and was fine, never complained about pain after--they had a pressure bandage on the groin area where they went in and he had to keep his leg perfectly straight for a while.
Spent the night in the hospital, just layed in bed watching TV, and was discharged at noon the next day, bouncing of the walls by the time we got home, same as usual.

 

[SandiH]

Just bring this back up to see how the OP's DH did with his cath.

Mine went fine. It turned out the the hospital just did diagnostic (even though I called the Dr.'s nurse on Monday and she said they would intervene if necessary) so I was pretty ticked to begin with. The good news is that there were no blockage so intervention wasn't needed anyway.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

That's always excellent news. Congratulations, Sandi.

 

[Patty3]

I had been having some chest pains recently. I had been to the ER twice and both times they said that it was not my heart but a gastro problem. Two weeks ago, these pains came again and I went to the doctors instead of the hospital. They ran an EKG and said that it look fine, but just to be safe, the doctor referred me to a Cardiologist. I had an Echo done about two weeks ago and I called the office to see if I could find out the results. The nurse called back and said that the doctor said he would discuss the results with me on my scheduled office visit. She also said that the doctor said there was nothing significant to worry about. On my initial appt with the doctor, he said that he was 90% sure that it was not my heart. Yesterday, I had a thallium stress test. I was very nervous and my blood pressure was 150/90 when first taken. I was not on the treadmill more than about three minutes, when the doctor said, "I was not expecting this", bp was 180/80 and he was reading the test. He then asked if I was having chest pains, pressure but not pain. He continued with the test for about another three minutes. I am really frightened right now. This does not sound good. I just needed to know what you all thought and really need your emotional support. My appt with the doctor is April 5, I would hope that if it were serious I would hear from him soon.

I am glad to hear that everyone seems to be doing well from their tests and procedures.