Angioplasty

Jeff had angioplasty yesterday. It's been a tortuous time since last Wednesday. It all started when Jeff went to see his cardiologist. He told the doctor that he wasn't feeling the greatest. After the doctor's inquisition, he decided to schedule Jeff for a cardiac cath, angioplasty, and a probable stent to clear the blockage he's been living with for the last year. The news was somewhat surprising and yet a relief since the old blockage will finally be fixed.

After the cardiology visit, Jeff headed to the arrhythmia specialist for his yearly exam. The nurse was alarmed after a quick check of his heart. It turns out that Jeff also has atrial fibrillation. His heart is erratic which probably better explains his symptoms than the blockage. With a consultation between the two doctors, it was determined that Jeff will go to the hospital this Friday, he can't wait until next week.

We check in Friday morning and go through the usual pre-procedure check-up. It turns out that Jeff hasn't been off some of his medication long enough to do the procedure without real complication so it's rescheduled for Monday. Here he spent his time emotionally prepping for today and he has to wait. The disappointment is weighing heavily on both of us, moreso on him for sure. We tried to spend the day occupying our time with fun things but the weight of the situation wasn't making it easy.

Monday came and we were packed and ready to go. Hopefully there are no complications this time. We checked in to St. Luke's first thing in the morning and Jeff went through all the pre-procedure examinations including a heart ultrasound. By the time he actually headed out for the cath, it was after noon. Time went on extremely slowly which was OK since it was a sign that the doctors could actually perform the angioplasty. Last year when Jeff was catheterized the team couldn't get to the blockage so he was back from the procedure pretty quickly. The nurse came back to the cath lab to tell me that angioplasty was completed and a stent was placed in one of Jeff's arteries. This meant he wouldn't be returning to the lab, but instead he was admitted to a room somewhere else in the hospital. The nurse took me to his room around 4 pm.

Jeff was happy that it was all over and relieved that the blockage was corrected. All the monitors hooked up to him still proved out the atrial fibrillation, like a little black cloud hanging around. The nurses kicked me out at 6 so they could pull out the catheter lines that were still in his groin. This part of the cath requires constant pressure on the incision for half an hour until they are sure it stops bleeding. During this process his heart rate dropped to 36 beats per minute. Immediately, a team rushed in and atropine was administered. His heart rate raced up to 12o then settled to a regular rhythm. Unfortunately, the process of putting pressure on the wound cut off his blood circulation a little too much.

Jeff was exhausted after the whole incident. Jen and Matt were there as well so we hung out and chatted while Jeff slept. They left around 8 and I went home a little after 9. It was a tough day but it was over and things could only get better now.

I got to the hospital first thing this morning. He was excited at the news that he could go home. The cardiologist's new PA came in and decided he needed an ultrasound; she didn't like something she heard when listening at the wound site. Jeff was pretty antsy after that. We sat around for the next 4 hours still waiting for the ultrasound. His anticipation was turning into anger so he got to the point where he just told them forget it, he wants to go home, there will be no ultrasound. I'm certain I was no help; I told him that I had a dentist appointment at 3 so if we didn't go soon, he would have to wait until after 4 when I was done with the dentist.

So we left with a new batch of prescriptions and instructions in tow. I headed to the dentist then the pharmacy. There are so many medications, I can't keep up. I just hope he can. Hopefully this will be the beginning of recovery, although the atrial fibrillation is still an issue. In a few weeks we will be back to the arrhythmia specialist and hopefully things will be better.