It's Aug. 28, and I am scared to death. I could use some advice from those of you who have been through this. What should I expect?
They are going in to look at the mitral valve (that seems to have been defective all my life.)
Thanks so much for your support! This site is such a life-saver!
Kay
Kay,
Welcome to womenheart! There are lots of women here who have had multiple angios and subsequent surgical procedures and I'm sure they will answer you too.
I can only tell you about my one experience with this procedure - I was alert through the entire angiogram, thanks to a nurse forgetting to give me a sedative to relax and me not knowing to ask for one!
The entire time in the cath lab took about 45 minutes - they imobilize you on the table so you cannot move and cause harm to yourself. The room was extremely cold, but they did offer blankets to keep warm.
I wsa given two injections in the incision area - the first was on the surface and the second was deeper. The scope was then inserted in my artery and guided into my heart. I felt nothing after the very first injection other than unusual pressure - no pain.
I tried to meditate to relax, but the doctor wanted my eyes open so instead I watched the procedure on the monitor. You can always look the other way if you don't want to see.
I did feel a warmth all over when they injected the dye - that is normal, and the cardiologist warned me before it happened that I would feel that sensation.
If you have an excellent cardio with good bedside manners, he/she should talk you through the entire procedure so you know what is going on at all times.
When it was finished the cardio told me what they found (for me that was nothing!) and I was returned to my room. They used a star closure to seal the artery and I had to remain still for 2 hours waiting for the blood to clot around the opening. That was the worst part for me - they wanted me to drink water to flush the dye but I couldn't get up to use the bathroom... you get the picture.
For me it was simple and no problems. I was up in 2 hours and had no bruising or discomfort.
Just like women share stories of being in labor for childbirth, you will hear all kinds of variations of cath/angio tales here. Some of us have good experiences, some have bad - but all of us go through it knowing it is a medical necessity.
Incidentally, I had my first child in less than 2 hours labor and my second in 15 minutes, so maybe I do all things easy. :-)
I hope it goes well and you will keep in touch here. These women are wonderful.
My heartfelt best wishes to you,
Laura
Hi Kay,
Planned angios are a piece of cake. You will be given a sedative cocktail so you won't really care (smile) that you are awake-ish. They need you awake so you can respond to commands to turn your head at times, or cough so they can watch what your heart does on the monitor. This is a very common procedure so you will be in and out in no time....Won't feel a thing. I found it amazing to see my heart beating on the screen.
Scheduled caths are much more relaxed than emergency situations and should go smoothly. The big bonus is you and your doctors will also have an accurate look at your arterial and valve status. That's a good thing!
Take good care,
Jaynie
I have had 3, 1 last August, 1 2mo's later and another one 062608....the 1st and the last both had a stent put in so I'm sure that the procedure will be the same they will just be going a little deeper with their camera. I too was awake...they give you a little bit of a "cocktail" just enough so you are relaxed but you are totally aware of everything. I'm sure that your Dr. will be gentle and you can talk to them. There are video screens and you can generally see what they are doing...doesn't mean you'll know what your looking at so asked them. You will do fine. For the most part you don't even know they are inside you. Good Luck to you dear!!!!
Hi Kay. I won't reiterate what the other women said, that an angio is a cakewalk. Ironic, no? And hopefully it will give you answers. Oh, and you can watch, not that you'll know what you're watching ;)
Kay,
I had an unscheduled angiogram in Japan if you can believe that! My husband and I were living in Japan because of his job. I had been having chest pain for three days. I was 45, with no risk factors and I thought, this cannot be happening to me. On the morning of the third day, my neighbor drove me to the American hospital and to the ER. They diagnosed with me acid reflux and release me. Later that evening, the chest pain returned, even worse than before. My husband rushed me to the ER when they noticed something irregular on the EKG and decided to admit me for observation. Here's the kicker, at the American hospital THEY DON'T HAVE A CARDIOLOGIST ON STAFF. Can you believe it? I was treated by an internist. When triponin showed up after 1:00 am, they scheduled me for an emergency angiogram at the Japanese hospital. Eek!
Imagine being scared out of your mind and going through a procedure in a foreign country where you are not fluent in the language. Double eek! I had never even spent the night in the hospital before (married late, no success trying to start a family...).
Anyway, they transported me via ambulance to the Japanese hospital. I was lucky because the internist had a Japanese exchange student working with him. He came with me to the Japanese hospital and did his best to translate for me.
My angio expereince was VERY different from what you will read about here. The room was very warm. I guess this is because the Japanese are always cold. They have so little body fat that the public rooms are always over heated. So needless to say, I was sweating as things began. They striped off my clothes and put a cloth to cover my private parts. Gee thanks. They they swabbed my right wrist with an iodine solution. My cardiologist looked about 25 and was very quick, efficient and confident. They gave me a shot in the wrist to numb the pain. Then before I knew it, he began to snake the catheter up through my arm and to my heart. Freak out! As Jaynie said, it was cool and weird to watch your heart beating right there in front of you. They examined my heart from all sides, up and down for about 5 minutes. Finally, they found one artery that had narrowed and caused my MI. They decided that it was too narrow for a stent and that I would be best served by treating it only with drugs. They removed the catheter and were on the phone explaining this to my internist all before I sat up.
Today, six months to the day later, I have moved back to the USA and my female cardiologist cannot believe they did the angio up through my arm. She says this is never done in the US. Ironically however, I was watching CNN at my gym just yesterday when the following crawled across the screen..."doctors find that doing an angio through the arm causes much less bleeding..."
Who knew? Anyway, I'm sure your angio will be a lot less stressful and dramatic than mine was. We are the lucky ones, we get to see what is wrong with our hearts while so many do not.
Hugs to you,
Carrie
Nothing to them! They give you I don't care about a thing drug! put warm blankets on you! Because it was a little cold in there. You are awake but don't really care about a thing. My doctor talked to me the entire time, and nurses where great! You do have to lay still and not move. I had to have the same thing done to me, mine was my aortic valve that I did have to replace with a st jude, and he wanted to look at my aneurysm in my aortia. Don't worry about a thing, you do have to lay flat on your back for a while after the procedure and they apply direct pressure. I came home the same day and had to rest a few days! Awwww it was great everybody waited on me for a change!! LOL!!! It is a scare but not bad on your leg!
Hi kay,
Just checking in to see how you are doing today with this?
Be well,
Laura
Thanks everyone! You make me feel better about this. I have pre-op blood work tomorrow, but I guess I can handle that!
Kay
Add to the discussion