Eileen,
Prayers and best wishes that all turns out well for you.
Malka

Thanks for the prayers and good wishes guys. They must have worked.

Had the angiogram last Wednesday. Besides the 95% blockage in the right carotid, I also had a 99% blockage in the right iliac artery above the groin. Since he has to stent this to get to the carotid, he did that last Weds. Because I had such high levels of dye in my system, he decided NOT to try to stent the carotid last Thursday but to do it this Wednesday.

So I get to do this all over again in two days. Can't say I'm looking forward to it. This is about the most BORING recovery procedure I've ever been through. After they spend an hour or more trying to get your blood to clot again, they remove the catheters and then send you to a room or this time ICU where you must lie on your back with leg straight out and not move for 6 hours making it impossible to read and almost impossible to see a TV. And since I have a trach which puts pressure on the wound if I talk, I'm also not allowed to talk. Sleeping it not an option as I might roll, plus it is too noisy. I think I got a total of 1 hours slepp that night.

The stent in the iliac did solve the problem of my cramps in my right thigh. The other doctor never even suggested this. He was going to stent below the groin. This doctor says that usually doesn't work for long and he is going to try to avoid having to do it. We will address other leg problems 4 months after carotid. Tey may need to stent left iliac.

So off I go again on Wednesday. Will then be off the board until at least Monday. Will let you know what happens, I hope.

Take care,
Eileen

You'll be in my prayers. For the boredom, what about a book on CD? I know I couldn't lay still and do nothing for 6 hours. Linda

What else can I say but Hang In There.

I wonder why 6 hrs? I had to lay still with a weight over the spot where they cut for the catheter to go in, but only for about an hour and a half. Good luck and I bet you are glad it's over.

God, Eileen, sounds like quite the ordeal keeping still for that long but not sleeping. The book on tape or CD idea is a good one, though those often put me to sleep. In fact, if I had to lie flat on my back for any length of time and wasn't allowed to sleep, someone would have to be waking me up a lot I think!

I'm sending all the good healing vibes (and not-too-bored vibes) that I can. Let us know how it went as soon as you can!

Nelie

Eileen

I am so sorry i have been remiss is sending my warmest good wishes to you,and wishing you luck in the treatment,but here they are.

(((((HUGS)))))
LIZ

This time I got to go through the BORING recovery TWICE and the procedure once.

As I was lying on my gerney waiting for to go to OR for procedure, a woman who was having a heart attack was wheeled into the next bay. She had collapsed at her office for no known reason. After getting some background info from her, they rush into OR for an angiogram to determine what is happening. About 15 minutes later they pick me up for carotid artery stent procedure. Now my surgeon is the head cartiologist and if there is going to be any complications in this emergency in the other OR, he is likely to be needed. They get all the equipment set up for me, do the prep work, and then the IDIOT intern decides to run the IV lines into the groin WITHOUT checking to see if my doctor is going to be available to do the procedure. Two seconds later my doctors associate comes in to apologize and say my doctor has been called in on the emergency. I COULD KILL that intern. Now I have to do the 8-10 hours don't move or talk for a procedure that wasn't even done. Plus when he is trying to get my blood back to normal clotting level, he gives me to much of the drug and then has to thin it out again. I almost went into shock at one point. The bruising is so bad this time I can barely walk because this idiot also didn't know how to correctly apply pressure to stop the bleeding. So that was fun.

Needless to say Thursday procedure went without a problem. Doctor was delighted with the results. He was able to get carotid open far wider than he expected, don't know how much, but he was hoping for 70%. Even gave me a before and after picture to show me the blood getting to the brain. That before picture is a pretty scary shot.

The woman in the emergency was doing well. She was a 40 year old that collapsed out of the clear blue. She has some rare condition that occurs in 1-500,000 people where her arteries just collapse. they were collapsing before the doctors eyes as they were wroking on her. Took 4 doctors several hours and multiple stents to make her stable.

They wound up keeping me an extra day trying to get my BP up high enough for release. They want you on the high side as it takes a couple of days for the carotid to recover. So they are IV feeding me something to up the BP and then the silly nurses come in and want to give my BP medicine. I question the wisdom of this and they check with doc on floor in coronary care unit. He says, OH that is for arhymthia (sp) and it is OK. I say ARE YOU SURE because it also lowers my BP. Oh he sure. Next day my BP still not where they want it. Turns out I should not have had in BP meds for 48 hours after procedure.

So it is now 6:PM and they decide since it is so late, I might as well spend another night in coronary care so they can monitor overnight. I agree. Well, 10:30PM, in bounces my adorable two nurses who announce that I am 'going to take a walk'. They are throwing me out of the room in coronary care and sending me to a regular room where I won't get monitored cause they need the bed in corinary care. Fun and games.

I am doing well, although very badly bruised. Still have difficulty walking and climbing stairs but I think I can thank the idiot intern for that. It will probably take me twice as long to heal this time. Last time I had no difficulty after a couple of days.

So thanks for all the good vibes and prayers. I survived another one.

Take care,
Eileen