Grandma J said:
"It is scary but I stayed awake with mild sedation"
What the ....... ??!! Did you do the hoovering at the same time?? Seriously, that's amazing. I don't know anything about all this & just assumed hearts required deep slumber!
What a prompt & evidently very necessary procedure & you're through it safe and sound, that is wonderful Grandma J! Relax and enjoy the much-deserved attention. Well done you!
Yeah!!! I am so glad everything went so well and so fast its amazing! Less time to ponder and worry now just some needed recovery and then off to enjoy some wellness. On top of the world happy for you!
How are you feeling today, J?
Sybil, THAT is the way it is done. I know, it's incredible. I have no idea why, but everyone I've known to have the stenting done has had it under sedation, and they have a recollection of the most memorable parts of the "event". Grandma J, did they go in through your groin like they did for the rest of my friends? Apparently, the dressing you're left with after it all is a bandaid. Or am I remembering that wrong?
I replied yesterday evening and something went wrong--it didn't go through. So, I'll try again tonight.....
Seenie, I noticed you had tried to chat, but my tablet was acting up so I went on the computer and now you're gone. :-(
Sybil, I had angioplasty. There's a stent. It's a painless (sort of) procedure and I asked for minimal sedation because I didn't think it was necessary. So, as you can see on the drawing and notes, my sedation was -1, which is very mild and I was awake the whole time. It was interesting. I found out something more about the (sort of) pain during the procedure. When the balloon is being placed, the artery is actually fully clogged for a few moments, which causes pain--similar to heart attack pain. I had the pain for about 3 hours after the procedure, and it was uncomfortable, but I knew it wasn't anything to be concerned about.
Yes, Seenie, they go in through the groin. They numb the area before they start. At the end, I think they stitched my artery, but they didn't need to stitch my skin. The site is so small, it's less of a mark than where my IV's were!
Anyway, I'll attempt to upload some pics. One is the drawing, pretty self-explanatory. One is a photo of the artery, arrow pointing to the major 90% clog, and the other showing where the stent was placed and the artery is open! You can't see the stent. Isn't it cool? I feel so fortunate it turned out so well. I feel really good today and after tomorrow I can resume my normal activity. It's actually been easier than PsA--although scarier.
Take care of yourselves, everybody.....if your doctor wants you to take a statin for high cholesterol, take it. I refused it. This is what happens. My cardiologist told me fish oil in pill form doesn't do any good. I'm not sure I agree with that. I think the fish oil was why my HDL was always so high (80). But, it didn't lower my LDL. Now I'll take a statin and the beta blocker BP med, the baby aspirin and the blood thinner (Plavix). All because I didn't take a statin in the first place to prevent the cholesterol from building up.
I also think the main cause of this is that my job has been very stressful this past academic year. I had student workers who were incompetent and one who had a learning disability, I swear. I don't know what she was doing in college! It made my job very difficult and my boss wouldn't fire her. I had other stress in my life, too, more than in the past, and I really think stress played a major role in this event, as stress also plays a major role in how bad our psoriasis and PsA is.
Now that this happened to me, I'm thinking, what next? Finding out I had PsA was a shocker, now this is a shocker!!! I'm crossing my fingers there will be no more surprises! I am thankful that this was caught before an actual heart attack happened, because I'd be a lot worse off with a damaged heart.
I had a hard time downloading the pics, but I think it worked.
4-BeforeStent.JPG (2.02 MB) 5-StentPlaced.JPG (1.71 MB)Here's the drawing.
Grandma J said:
3-DrawingofArteriesaffected.JPG (1.47 MB)I had a hard time downloading the pics, but I think it worked.
So how are you doing now Grandma J. So hope it’s going better?
Hi Poo therapy,
I'm doing very well, thank you for asking! At times I get a little nervous thinking about what could have happened. I'm trying to eat healthier--I was eating more McDonald's than I'd like to admit and ice cream, chips and candy several times a week. Today I stopped at the grocery store on my way to work and bought bananas, apples and peanut butter granola for my next few days' lunches. Oh yeah, and my Ultimate Omega super triglycerides formula fish oil capsules which I haven't taken in a few weeks. The doctor did say fish oil doesn't do any good unless you eat the actual fish, but I'm still gonna take the capsules--they can't hurt anything.
It's definitely a wake-up call and glad it wasn't worse!
How are you doing?
Poo therapy said:
So how are you doing now Grandma J. So hope it's going better?
