Stent Man

Arrived at 6:40am Thursday, Sept. 3rd at Parkview Memorial Hospital, Cardiology Center for my heart catheterization. I honestly didn’t know what to expect. For one, I’ve never had one. Two, the internet is full of information that can and can’t be helpful. Most of them are outpatient, but there are instances where you have to stay overnight, like if there’s complications and/or bleeding that won’t stop. It’s a grab bag of ‘choose your own adventures’-style options and fates. I was best just to go in blind and hope for the best.

Got in and the doc came into the waiting room to talk about what was going to happen, and he’d mentioned that he felt I only needed to have the left ventricle done, as the right didn’t seem to need anything. Plus, this was all scheduled prior to the echocardiogram that showed my heart recovered from the heart failure.

The procedure took roughly 45 minutes to an hour at the most, and I was awake for it. They drugged me with some heavy hitter sedative, so I was sort of in a fugue state. But I could answer questions if asked and I could see my surroundings, which were pretty much covered by two giant x-ray screens that hovered over me.

I could hear the conversations between the cardiologist and the O.R. nurse assisting him. Turns out I had close to an 80% blockage in my left ventricle, so a stent was placed. Most of the conversation was about the placement of stent, and size they were using. At one point I felt as if they’d never get it set right, like I had some weird, one-of-a-kind ventricle that the world hadn’t yet seen the likes of. “You think it should move over just a bit?” “Should that come back a tad?” I know those questions weren’t aimed at the guy with the wire going up his radial artery, but in my druggy state of mind it felt like they were.

Before I knew it, they were done. I was placed back on the bed I came in on and then wheeled back to my recovery room. The stent placement was a success, and I’d gone thru my first heart cath without any issues, and it seems I have standard issue heart ventricles after all.

We had to wait around for around 4 hours while the wound where they entered my arm stopped bleeding. They put this what I could best describe as a clear plastic tourniquet on the incision and pumped it full of air for pressure. It was a little painful, and I’m not sure if it was from the incision or the pressure of the tourniquet thing. They let air out of it a little at a time over the course of the four hours, making sure it didn’t start to bleed. After the last of the air was let out, they wrapped my wrist and I was free to go around 2pm.

The weekend has been a quiet one; full of walks, movies, records and just quiet time in general. I visited my best friend on Saturday and we hung out for a couple hours. Took my wife out for lunch Friday, and Friday night treated her and our daughter to some Indian food. Watched the new Candyman film, as well as Sentimental Value. Saturday night we watched Mayday with Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh. Then I watched Married To The Mob and Love and Mercy.

I’m relieved I’m past the heart cath. I was nervous going in. The unknown is nervous-inducing to me. But now I just feel relief and thankful I got thru it. I can’t really tell a difference in my health. I felt great before the heart cath, but I guess I just feel that much quieter and at ease now. We now know what’s going on in my chest, so there’s no mystery involved with that anymore. I know I’m on the right path to living out the remaining life I’m allotted feeling great and staying on top of my health. I have an appt with the cardiologist nurse practitioner on September 22, then a visit with my Internist on November 4. I’m anxious to see how I feel then. I feel great now. By November I might be able to fly. Who knows?

That’s my update for now. Feeling great, even with some metal in my heart.