So i just got out of surgery where they had inserted a catheter into my heart and discovered that my led artery was 99% blocked which they fixed by inserting a stent. Have any other dopers had experience with this? I’m told that it means I was very close to having a major heart attack so I’m glad they found it when they did. Felt really wired having a tube in my heart, kinda like someone had a finger inside there.
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Nope; just the opposite. They went in expecting to see some sort of blockage and found out everything was pretty OK. The cath was part of a series of “on-going testing” when I had my initial cardiac issues and I honestly believe the Doc was so confused and frustrated at that point that he was just throwing darts at a picture guessing what test to run next. Worse part was the damn sandbag on my leg afterwards.
I had severe chest pain episodes, usually at 2 am. The episodes lasted maybe ten minutes each. Since I didn’t die, I thought it was GERD. Episodes went from once every 4 or 5 days to nightly. Drinking Maalox at bedtime seemed to help.
Eventually made an appointment and learned I had unstable angina and at least one of my episodes was a heart attack. Had a stent placed (very cool) and went home the next day. Returned to work the day after that (more yelling from my PCP) and have been fine for the two or three years that have gone by.
When I saw my cardiologist for a one year follow up I discovered that my copay was more than what the doctor would have charged me if I were an uninsured guy paying cash. The ACA helped a lot of people, but it fucked me.
Had two cardiac caths. First one resulted in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG x 3). No stents.
I was pretty much asleep for the first one, but the second one I was pretty aware of what was going on. Very weird feeling the catheter moving around my heart.
My wife underwent one last fall. It was mostly exploratory. They found a couple of minor blockages, but none serious enough to require a stent.
Back in 2012 I was scheduled for replacement of my aortic valve. About a month prior to the surgery they performed a routine cath test. It showed that there were four cardiac arteries that were severely blocked. I was about a year away from a heart attack. So my surgery included four bypasses. I had another cath test last year, and the cardiologist told me he found “four beautiful bypasses”.
I had an Angiogram where they determined that my LAD (which, I assume, is what you meant) was also almost completely blocked. The blockage was at a particular bad location (at a ‘Y’), so they had to perform a double-bypass. Which they did immediately - do not pass go, do not accept $200.
That was 8 years ago.
Since then, I’ve run in the Spartan race, and three Ragnars. Today I benched 195 at a body weight of 169, age 57.
So get this: Grandpa had clotting issues, couple heart attacks and ultimately stroked out his brain. All 4 of his boys developed clotting issues and had heart attacks by age 50. At 52 my brother saw his doc for fatigue and ended up with an angiogram followed by a stent.
Explained all this to my doc when I was 49 and, given my blood numbers expressed some concern. He told me I was being silly to even think about it and by the way when was the last time I got my prostate poked (no cancer in my family ever–just heart attacks on Dad’s side, da-beetus on mom’s side), and no there is no such thing as a diagnostic angiogram without actual symptoms of trouble. Just totally blew me off, and by the way the daily aspirin isn’t necessary without any heart history so I should stop doing that. I’ll be 51 next month and am just so glad to have been reassured so thoroughly. Occasionally I do get a little stinger in my left chest but it’s clearly just … well, something else right? All this to say, I’m probably not going to have a stent ever.
Funny my doctors’ eyes get big as saucers and start immediately ordering tests and medicines when I tell them of my family history. I’m 36 and my brother while in his thirties had a heart attack and had a stent put in. About 2 months, he was about 50, ago his stent was clogged so they went in to remove it. He was dead the day after he left the hospital. My father had several heart attacks and my mother had several strokes. My numbers weren’t terrible but my family history convinced them that I needed to take far more extreme steps than would be normal for a 36 year old. This was before I started having shortness of breath and falling over all over the place which landed me in the hospital today.
I had a cardiac cath several years ago when EKG and stress tests indicated a problem. The test showed very minor disease. I don’t remember any of it. I recently had an angiogram in a cerebral artery that showed 80% blockage. Medications didn’t work and an angioplasty was performed a couple of days later. During that procedure the artery collapsed completely and remained that way for five minutes or so until a stent was inserted. I don’t remember any of that either with the exception of being extubated afterwards and that only barely. A subsequent visit to a cardiologist to get BP medications squared away had her telling me that if that had happened in the heart it would have be called a heart attack. Yikes! No lingering effects. Apparently, I am very lucky it turned out that way.