I was nervous about my heart cath during my visit at the hospital. I heard lots of stories, like the doctors will put you to sleep with medication. But I had forgot the fact that some people tend to exaggerate things. Those stories didn't help me one bit. I've never ever been on the table under the knife before. I was scarred out of my wits.
I had didn't have a choice though. If I wanted to live, I was going to have to put on my big girl underwear and go through the heart cath. The very first time I heard the words heart cath, what was pictured in my mind was being put to sleep and having someone's chest being sliced and opened and poking their heart with a knife or whatever objects surgeons use in order to fix up someone. The nurses and my family told me that during a heart cath, doctors use a tube on your wrist and push it up through the arm to the chest so they can look and see what is going on at the screen and see how much blockage is inside the arteries.
Well the Monday came and I knew that the big moment was coming. I had time to do some breathing sessions. The nurse came in early in the morning and gave me some anti-bacterial soap and anti-bacterial wipes and had me take a shower so there won't be any germs on my body during the heart cath. So I go in the shower and used the soap they gave me and used the wipes after I got out of the shower. Later on, the nurses brought in a bed in my room and put me in it so they can wheel me to a room that had sections with beds, units and televisions.
All sections had numbers labeled. The nurses said I have to take off my underwear just in case they have to do the heart cath from the groin. Doctors do heart cath in two ways: through the wrist or through the groin. Me, being the chicken that I am, I chose the wrist. They gave me aspirin for the pain and made me wait a few minutes. After a few minutes, I was finally put in the health cath room. It was so cold in there.
By the time surgeons got me on the table, I wasn't scarred anymore. The anxiety and thoughts left my mind. I got wanted to get it over with. There was this huge screen thing on top of my head. I kept on asking several questions like, "Are you guys going to put me to sleep?" They said no they are not going to put me to sleep.
The surgeons said they were going to numb my wrist so I won't feel anything. I kept my eyes closed. I could feel the needle in my wrist and the tube going up to my arm. They took a look at my arteries on the screen. The doctor said they have seen that my diagonal branch (D1) had 99 percent blockage, my LAD had 2 percent blockage, but my main arteries are good. In order to go to the diagonal branch (D1) they have to go through the LAD and the left main artery.
I can't get a stent put in my diagonal branch (D1). If I had the surgery I would not survive because I weigh 376 pounds (last month I weighed 385 pounds) and the surgeons didn't want to take a chance with me. So the doctors prescribe me some heart medication that is part of the Walmart $4.00 drug prescription program to get the blockage cleared away. It turned out that my hearth cath wasn't so bad. I was afraid for nothing. The surgeons and nurses bandaged my arm and put this huge thing around it. I loved everyone at the hospital they did a wonderful job with me.
The picture below is my illustration of where my blockage is.
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