Cardiac Catheterization

On October 31st, Levi took our daughter, Zoe trick or treating while I stayed home and passed out candy. Zoe finished trick or treating and we all watched, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown . After the movie, I took Zoe to sleep over at a dear friend's house. My friend, Ali has two therapy dogs. Jack (tan) who is also a service dog and is still working and Zoey (black) who is retired. Both of those sweet dogs stayed by Zoe's side all night long. In fact, Jack snuggled up right next Zoe and slept nose to nose with her. Ali informed me that the dogs have never done that with anyone else. How sweet is that?

Ali watched Zoe the next day while Levi, my mom and I were at the University of Utah Hospital.

November 1st, Levi and I woke up at 4:00am and got ready for the day. We left our house at 5:15am and picked up my mom on the way to the UofU. We got there about 6:15am and went straight to registration. After I was registered we went up to the fourth floor.

While waiting we found an article in the Deseret News about a transplant jet in Utah that will transport organs. It was interesting to read about. You can read more about that here.

The nurse took me back to my room where I changed and the staff began pre-op work. I learned that I am O+ blood type. That is good to know because I thought I was A+.

The heart cath procedure started at 8:30am and went smoothly. I was awake for the procedure since I had local anesthesia. Before they covered my face with the cloth I counted about 6-7 staff in the room and 2 watching from a viewing window. I believe more may have entered once they started updating all the staff in the room on my condition and the procedure. As soon as I was told the medication to make me sleepy was sent through the catheter, they started numbing my neck. It hurt! I would close my eyes and sleep on and off, but I could hear everything. Here are a few things I heard:

"Is there a reason no one is panicking that her heart rate is only 25?"

"Sandra, how old is your daughter?"

"I asked her how old her daughter is, but she didn't answer."

"Look at this..."

"Oh, that is..."

By the way I kept trying to answer Dr. Martin twice on how old Zoe was, but I don't think she could hear me. The staff members peeked through the little view hole I had a few times and asked if I wanted more meds to fall back asleep.

After they went through a vein in my neck they pulled the catheter out and started sending one through an artery in my right arm. I felt all of it. They told me before the procedure that the catheter may tickle my heart, which would cause my heart to do quick irregular beats. I felt that happen a few times.

They bandaged my entry wounds and wheeled me back to my room. They immediately had food set up and told me I could start eating, while Dr. Martin updated Levi and my mom.

In case you can't tell, my neck and arm were in a lot of pain. It's also possible I dosed off a few times while trying to eat.

Below is the brace I have to wear for 24 hours to keep me from bending my wrist and causing my artery to bleed internally and/or externally. I will not be able to use this arm to lift anything 10+ lbs for a week.

Dr. Martin who performed my cardio catheterization, drew a picture of what my heart looks like and the different pressures they were measuring. I will need some vessel reconstruction done along with the heart transplant, but Dr. Martin said she felt like I was a good candidate for a heart and double-lung transplant, but that she was just a cardiologist and doesn't make those decisions. She followed that up with saying Stanford is more aggressive on doing difficult transplants. That is comforting to hear.

One interesting thing we discovered is that my pulmonary hypertension is not as bad as the doctors thought. That is great news!

Below are pictures of normal hearts and pressures.

photo credit: http://www.chop.edu/pages/how-normal-heart-works

photo credit: Pinterest - it wouldn't take me to an actual site

If it doesn't make any sense to you, don't worry. It doesn't make any sense to me other than my heart is rearranged differently. Like I always say, "I like to be my own person." Even if that means I need my own individual looking heart. Even Dr. Martin said I am unique.

So now, I follow up with my cardiologist, Dr. Poku on Monday, November 6th and find out the next step in the plan.

Here is a video of Zoe explaining my procedure. It may not be completely accurate.

FYI: Betty, also known as Betty Pearl Smith, is Zoe's cat.