Coiling Procedure in the Heart

On Wednesday I went in to have the coiling procedure that capped off the extra veins branching off one of the coronary arteries in my heart. I literally have tiny coils of wire or some other synthetic material blocking the flow of blood to my extra bits and pieces.

The way it was explained to me is that because my blood has been diverted to fill these extra vessels, there are parts of my heart that may not have been getting the right amount of oxygenated blood. Additionally, the internal blood pressure of my heart may have been compromised due to these extra vessels. Both of these things came about once the hole in my heart was repaired back in 2010. The hole was allowing the blood to flow more freely, not affecting the pressure of these vessels. Once the hole was closed these vessels started filling up more and more because blood was diverted a different way. The right way, but a different way. So granted I was now no longer throwing clots and having strokes, but now I was having chest pain and shortness of breath.

Fast forward four years, I am now lying on an operating room gurney awaiting my fate. I figure I have a 50/50 chance of this procedure giving me any relief. I had been warned that it may not work at all. I'm listening to all the beeps and whirs of the medical devices I am hooked up to. There is a selection of uplifting classical music playing, the doctor's personal preference. I am shivering slightly because it always cold in operating rooms. But I don't know what's more uncomfortable at the moment, the sub-zero temperature or the fact that everyone will be focusing on my groin for the next hour.

And then we begin.

I get a local anesthetic so the catheter can glide through. And it does, presumably. I'm talking to the doctor and then he shifts something near my hip and I nearly jump. It hurts! Really badly. I'm explaining to him that there's a pain spreading throughout my entire hip region, hip bone to my pelvis, and he's searching for the cause. Bear in mind that I've had a local so I can feel the pressure of his hands while he's palpitating but not really tell what he's doing.

After a moment he tells me that there are no blood clots and that I'm fine. I say that my hip is killing me and I feel like something warm is running down my leg. At this time, the nurse had decided to give me something to calm me down. I let her know that I'm calm I'm just in pain and if possible I'd like to be awake during the procedure. Finally, the doctor hits something and I let out a groan. That's the spot. He tries three more times to give me a local to numb the pain. The last thing I remember is him explaining that they had hit a nerve bundle in my hip and that was causing the pain. I was crying it hurt so bad.

When I woke up, I had been cleaned up and transferred back to a hospital bed. Before we left the room I asked if I could see the coils in my heart. It would probably be the only chance I would get to see it in Hi Definition on a flat screen TV. He showed me where they had put three coils in my poor abused heart, gave me a moment, and wheeled to my room and my husband.

This time around, I was told that they clamped off the femoral artery (the groin one) instead of applying pressure like the last time so I had to lie flat for 6-7 hours instead of 4 hours. It was horrible. I had to pee like nobody's business by the time I was allowed out of bed at one in the morning. Plus I had to stay overnight because they had to tinker with my ticker. But the stay was, all in all, not that bad. They did an excellent job at managing my hip pain, which was still pretty bad for the first 24 hours. After that it was the usual bruising from the procedure.

I was even a minor celebrity on the recovery floor. Most of the nurses had never heard of the procedure I had done. Others had heard of it, but I was their first patient. My doctor, the cardiac recovery specialist, only does three coiling procedures a year. If he's busy. I was also the youngest patient at the time on the recovery floor. They were sad to see me go, but didn't want me back. In fact, I was sleeping on my couch before my kids got home from school the next day.

So what is the result? I can't really say. I think it's too early to tell. I have moments I don't even think about my chest, which is amazing. But then, all of a sudden, it hurts. That all too familiar pain comes back and I try really hard not to get too upset about it, but it's hard not to. I can feel my heart beating throughout my whole body. It's the strangest feeling. It's like it is beating so hard, just trying to escape. I'm sure it has to do with my heart healing and getting used to actually working the way it is supposed to.

I'm hoping there will come a day that I won't even think about my heart anymore. Right now, all this concentration on it is making me feel like it's less a part of my body and more a part of some mad science experiment. I've got a patch and three coils floating around in there somewhere and it kind of creeps me out. I'm half afraid that the more we mess with it the more we'll mess it up. But the other half wants to just fix it already.

I follow up next Thursday with the doc. Guess we'll know more then.

One More Heart Procedure

It seems as though I have one more heart procedure to go through before this long journey can (possibly) come to an end. As I mentioned after I had my heart catheter done, I have some extra veins branching off a main artery in my heart that may possibly be causing the chest pain I have been experiencing over the last four years. The only way to fix that is to do another catheter and to insert little coils into these veins to cap them off.

I had the consult with the specialist yesterday. He spoke to my husband and me very candidly and while he wants to be optimistic, he also wants us to be realistic and know that this may not work. All he can do is perform the surgery and hope for the best. Yes, this can be the reason for the discomfort. Yes, it could work. Yes, I could feel better very soon. But I also need to be aware that it may do nothing at all to alleviate the pain and shortness of breath.

And then we would be back to square one. And I would be devastated.

Thinking realistically, I thought, I have nothing to lose. It took me two years to find a doctor to even listen to me and believe me in the first place when I complained about chest pain and shortness of breath. It took another two years to find what was even a possible culprit. I feel satisfied with the answers I have been given as to my "condition" because of the pain I felt when my doctor was tinkering around inside of my heart during the heart cath, particularly when he got to the spot we are currently discussing. Furthermore, I have no better answers or options given to me. None of the medications have worked. And while I certainly don't want to go through this again, I see no better way towards a more productive life.

I don't know if you're the praying type or the good vibes type, but if you find yourself with nothing better to do on Wednesday, I good use some good juju. I'm nervous and scared and hopeful, but I'm finding it hard to be optimistic after being let down so many times. Not to mention that apparently, once again, I have the privilege of having something rare wrong with me so nobody seems to know much about what the outcome is going to be. Yea me.