Cath scheduled 7 April

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BigOwl

BigOwl

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2009
Messages
308
Location
North Texas, USA
I finally got this date nailed down, but no surgery date. It's both right and left cath, but no TEE necessary.

Are there typical intervals between cath and surgery? I'm not anxious to wait very long after they do it--would rather they get going once they've got the info they need. Surgery doesn't seem to be a question (stenosis is severe, according to the echo, and I've already put it off three months).

I'm more than a little nervous about the whole thing. I've got really crappy veins (scars down both legs where they went hunting for vessels to use for the CABG), and have already had a cath through the right side. Anybody else had both a right and left at the same time? How long 'til they scheduled surgery?
 
Justin usually has right and left caths. As for the timing between cath and surgeries it is anybodies guess. Alot depends on your results, if you are pretty urgent they might squeeze you in faster than someone not as bad. Also alot has to do with the center and surgeon, some of the leading surgeons are booked pretty far in advance unless you are an ER and if there are a few surgeons they have to coordinate beds space in CICU and the floor. Sometimes Justin had surgery the day after his cath (not planned) and others it was a couple months, Usaually a month or so.
 
Thanks, Lyn. I suspect they'll do mine fairly quickly (I got an "are you nuts?" response when I suggested in January that I put surgery off until this summer), but the surgeon my cardio wants is a top gun, so I'm not sure how fast I'll get in. Good hospital, though, specializing in matters of the heart, as it were, so I'm hoping they're prepared for just about anything.
 
I had my TEE test done a couple days before Christmas, and then the cath was done in January. I just had my surgery on Feb 20th, but it was only booked a few days in advance. They had told me they wouldn't wait longer than a couple months after the cath to do surgery. I've also heard a lot of people here having their cath done only days before their surgery.
Hopefully you'll be getting a date soon.
Good luck with everything.
 
Thanks. I wonder if being in a place with national health makes a difference. I've talked to people in Britain and Canada who saw longer waiting times than friends here who've undergone elective cardiac procedures. I've only got a three-month surgery-recovery window before I'm out of disability pay and leave, so I'm hoping they do this quickly!
 
BigOwl said:
Thanks. I wonder if being in a place with national health makes a difference. I've talked to people in Britain and Canada who saw longer waiting times than friends here who've undergone elective cardiac procedures. I've only got a three-month surgery-recovery window before I'm out of disability pay and leave, so I'm hoping they do this quickly!
Click to expand...

When you are discussing surgery with the surgeon, I would mention your concerns about disability leave and pay. It certainly can't hurt. We've had doctors work Justin in quicker than usual, because of insurance worries (my husband was laid off and we had Cobra, and other reasons.
 
My surgeon wasn't even interested in meeting with me until I'd had the cath done. I've forgotten (is this a good thing?) but I think it was 4-6 weeks before the surgery. We met, then, and that's when he said, pick a tuesday, any tuesday!

I dreaded my cath, but for other reasons. I had had a very bad reaction to dye injected elsewhere, 20 years earlier, and was really nervous. I had plenty of antihistimine in me, and a gentle cardio, so all went well. Just the one side for me. The whole thing gave me the heebie-jeebies, so I asked for and got some great relaxing drugs; so I was pretty out of it.

I was a good girl and lay still afterwards for 6-8 hours. Brought an iPod and some knitting... there was no TV. The iPod was essential for drowning out the groaning of other patients in the "recovery" area.

This is all nerve-wracking stuff. Basically, it's a grin and bear it kind of lifestyle for a few months. Just be as relaxed and good spirited as possible as you weave your way from one procedure and set of needles to the next. Breathe deeply a lot. Smile a lot. Build a little savings bank of precious images, sounds, smells, thoughts to bring with you to all of these things and try to focus on them as you are being put through the motions.

Keep us posted!

Best wishes.

Marguerite
 
I too dreaded the cath. Mine was in September (no surgery scheduled yet, probally in April). I did not realize I had to ask for the relaxing drug.....I kept wondering why it did not kick in....I asked in recovery...she checked my chart and said "no drugs given". I had a "plug" so I could get up and around sooner..but I freak out when I think about the thing in my groin (or is it floating somewhere) wish I would have asked to forget that and lay longer......also do not know if I had a choice in that!!
 
Ack!

My cardio's nurse will be calling me this week, and I will be full of questions for her, thanks to y'all. Guess I'd better be prepared to arrange to work from home if there's a long spell between the one "thing" and the other!
 
I've had both sides done, so that's not unusual. The first few were diagnostic, but the final one was done the day before replacement. If you put surgery off before, you might need to push for it now.
 
Just got off the phone with the nurse, and she said they'd probably schedule me pretty quickly after the cath. I had also been worried about two different entry points for the cath itself, and if there would be a problem with scar tissue from the previous one, but she said they'd do both sides from the same spot, and enter a little above where they did before. She said they'd be using an angioseal, and that I should be prepared to spend the night.

I'm actually looking forward to getting everything rolling, and to seeing for myself what this fancy new hospital is really like. I'm going for my pre-op haircut today (actually it's my equinox haircut a little early), so I won't look like Cooker when I go in.;)
 
good to hear you will probably have the two close together. I couldn't imagine the added worry of the financial time constraints on top of everything else.
hope you'll just be able to concentrate on getting better, and nothing else.

good luck with everything.

jen
 
Cath went well: no blockages, my bypasses look good still, and the AV is critical. They're keeping me here tomorrow, and surgery's scheduled for Thursday. We meet with the surgeon in about a half hour, so after that's all squared away I guess I'll know what kind of valve (mechanical) and when on Thursday. More soon. Gotta sleep--they've given me something for the angina that's making me really groggy.
 
It is so wild that you can post there from the hospital. I don't think that was as available 3 years ago.

Wowee zowee they are moving you right along.

HOORAY that you are all clear!! Yay!!!

Sending positive thoughts your way for your surgery. Many of us were "critical" going in, so no worries on that piece, okay!!?? They'll have that ticking wonder machine inside you in no time.

BEST WISHES!!

Marguerite
 
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