AAAAND I'm back

And I'm all better!

Well, at least both blockages are gone. YAY for cardiologists - especially cute ones!!

Surgery was a bit of a nightmare. Doc wanted to go in through my right wrist rather than my groin because they went in through my right groin the first time (during the heart attack - no mincing around with trying to find wide enough veins at that time!). So they gave me a local - they want you awake through the procedure - so I wouldn't feel the incision, and then fed the catheter up the vein they were attempting to use.

I had been warned ahead of time that at some point I would feel like the "site" was burning, but that it would only last for about thirty seconds or so.

THANK BLOODY GOD, cuz let me tell you, it's excruciating.

And just to show that SOMEONE up there has a sense of humor (I really think it's my friend Ruth), at the exact time that my arm felt like it would explode into flames, Bruce Springsteen comes on the radio playing in the OR, singing "Oooh oh oh, I'm on fire."

Well, I couldn't help but laugh - and I'm sure that must have been a first for Doc, a patient going through an angioplasty LAUGHING on the table - and it totally confused them all. When they asked why I was laughing, I had to explain it to them. They got a good chuckle in as well.

But I wasn't laughing for long as it turns out that the artery simply wasn't wide enough to accomodate the balloon with the catheter, and they had to remove it. Going in through the left groin was the other option...

BUT....

I had to wait as an emergency came in and Doc was called to operate. So I had an hour to sleep before I was able to go in again. It went by very quickly, and having gone through the whole arm ordeal, I figured I would be prepared for when the dye got injected into my groin. Well, no one mentioned that the whole core of my body would feel like it was on fire!! I thought I wet myself for a second. Holy hell in a handbasket!!

Once the angioplasty was done - and it was painful - they inserted a collagen plug into the incision and applied pressure in order to allow it to spread. THEN, once again, I spent three hours with my leg totally straight. Wasn't allowed to bend it, and as for going to the bathroom - get the bedpan. Which I hate. They aren't pleasant.

Anyway, it's been four days and I feel tired, but knowing that no more blockages exist is a blessing. However, the bad news is that it's completely possible that my condition will keep me off roller coasters the rest of my life, which depresses the hell out of me, cuz anyone who knows me knows I love my roller coasters. But Doc says there's a possibility it might not. So we'll just have to see what the future holds.

So...I'm back. With a sunnier outlook and a better heart. And who could ask for more?


Stay sane inside insanity ~ and never forget your towel.