Pre-Angiogram Appointment

There is a continuous series of appointments that would precede my upcoming open heart surgery, and this is pretty much what I have been busy with lately. Today, I had an appointment with my cardiologist to follow up on some of these tests and order yet more, before my upcoming angiogram this Friday.

About a week ago, I had an ultrasound of my carotids done. Because of my FH, I have developed plaque buildup in several arteries and veins of my body and one of the more significant areas is my carotid. They've done this ultrasound about every two years for many years now.

Right now, it seems that I am at about 70% blockage on my common right carotid, and almost a complete blockage on my right external carotid. I am told that we have one common carotid going from our chest towards our brain, on either side of our head (those are the 2 common carotids). Then, they each split into the external carotid (goes to your face) and the internal carotid (goes to your brain).

Although my blockages are not affecting my internal carotids at this time, my cardiologist is still concerned about the size of the blockages and he doesn't want to "walk into open heart surgery before a vascular surgeon looks at this" (in his words). So, he will meet with the vascular surgeon and he will call me with what he recommends. He said he "needs to get this resolved before we proceed with surgery". Any blockage, especially around a vital organ like the brain can be dangerous with the surgery and the coumadin treatment coming up, he said. Especially if we do go with the ON-X valve and I'll require coumadin for a lifetime.

After this, he and I went over all my questions I was mentioning about (http://livingwithfh.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-long-list-of-questions.html) a while back. He answered most of them, and some of them I am leaving for the surgeon. 

He, then, listened to my heart again (routine) and I told him about my cough that would not go away. He sent me to get a chest X-ray today, so I did that, as well as he sent me to get blood drawn in preparation for the Friday angiogram. 

And that was that. 

He did throw a kink in the road, when he mentioned another surgeon's name rather than the one he's been recommending for a month now. We 'argued' a bit back and forth, I told him lots of people said the first surgeon he picked is the best one, and I have gotten comfortable with the thought of the first one. And he gave in and said "Ok, we'll keep the first one, they're both equal in skills". Not 100% sure what changed his mind, but of course now I am paranoid that I picked the wrong one. We'll see after we actually meet with the first one, which should be either this Friday, while I am in the hospital for my test, or shortly after this week. I suppose I can change my mind and go to the other one if the first meet-and-greet with the first surgeon is a total flop. 

That's about all for today. The test and appointment chain continue.

He was also a bit confused about the day of my angiogram, because he originally scheduled it for February. I called his scheduling nurse and she moved it up for me (she said she could and he's free) to January, but somehow, he didn't get that memo. He called the hospital himself and straightened his schedule up, and we're good for Friday. 

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that literally anything can happen. Schedules can change. Referrals can change, tests can be ordered last minute. I think the important lesson here is that you must be flexible. All in all, these people are paid to make your life better and keep you comfortable. It's kinda easy to forget this when they make simple mistakes like these. But I try to be flexible and a little less harsh on them. It's not easy for my over-perfectionist self, but I try. It can't be good for my heart to stress over every detail, I guess... Like I said: it's not easy to let go ...