Stents

Dear Barbs et al.  Good to hear from all of you.  I think that we all have something to offer others, and that our surgery can be a good example.  Over the past months I noticed one of my friends (aged 70) was really beginning to lose energy.  I pushed on him repeatedly to get a stress test.  He did last week and 3 days later had 5 stents inserted.  Seems he had 95% blockage in the RCA and 90% blockage in the LAD.  If a few more months had gone by, he might have had some serious problems (not that stents aren't serious enough)  Just crossed the 6 month period on my RCA stents and one more month to go on the LAD stent.  We celebrated last week after my return from the east coast. (second business trip on my own and I seem to have more confidence in the surgery every day.) 

It was great to hear that your son was doing well in Iraq.  I wish they had more troops to give the young people more rest and recooperation time.  We push on the government nearly every day to get the troops more help and equipment but the bureaucracy just seems to run on a "business as usual" basis.  My team has been working with the White House, Pentagon, and Congress for nearly a year with little to show in the form of motion.  Many people in these organizations want to help, they just get stalled out by lower tiers of government. (Although one senior official is working really hard to make some difference before he departs next month and seems to be making some headway)

Good luck to all,  John

Hi All,

I think I finally understand what is going on inside my body. After meeting with my cardiologist Friday, he explained what has happened. 

When the triple bypass was done, the two stents in the LAD were 99% blocked, the stent in the circumflex only 60% blocked. They went ahead a put bypasses around all the stents, but the bypass around the stent in the circumflex is nearly blocked along a long area. So when I started having the angina, etc, and he did the angiogram he opened the closure in the circumflex artery and inserted a medicated stent inside the old stent. He said when the bypass where they used a small vein goes ahead and blocks I shouldn't even be aware of it because I'll have good blood flow through the stent. I sure hope he is right! I still have to wear the nitro patch during the day, off at night. The really good news is that I'm not having any chest pain at all!

I'm one of those lucky (?) folks that seem to form a lot of scar tissue. Do any of you have info on what foods, vitamins, minerals, etc will help decrease the scar formation risk? I've found a few: pumpkin and sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, swiss and cheddar cheese, peanuts, dark turkey, lean beef, blueberries, Vitamins A, C, B, B6, E and selenium. I suppose just a good healthy diet would do the trick.

Let me hear from you.

Barb

Thanks Barb, I'm already doing that. Any other ideas anyone?

Barb

Hiya, Libby and Welcome to HealingWell!!

You are now an official joiner and a member of our little forum here~Please feel free to jump in anywhere, anytime and vent if necessary, or ask away!

I think it's fairly safe to say that many of us here have a family history of heart disease.  Add diabetes to my list and the fact that I lost my Mom a couple of months ago to breast cancer.  You are very definitely not alone!!

3 stents, heart disease along with all the rest on your plate can walk hand in hand with down periods, or even depression.  Try and get outdoors on sunny days when you are able to, keep busy, don't give up on life~you have a mighty long way to go! :)

Again, welcome to the board and I'm looking foreward to hearing much more from you.

Hugs, Teri

Hi LisaRose and Welcome to our group here at HealingWell!

That's a shame that you had to go through what you did! 

Though I've been in many training hospitals as a patient and even trained in a few of them myself as a nurse.  One of the very first questions/statements that they make to you is "You are aware that this is a training hospital, aren't you?"  I've been in Wisconsin and Texas ones and that's what they did in both places.  What that means in a nut shell is that while you are there you will be seen and treated by people learning the ropes, through the guidance of professors and extremely well trained Dr.'s and nurses.

Is there any other hospitals near you where you could opt to go the next time??  I sure hope so for your sake, if you had such a bad experience!

Please take care and I do hope that you are doing well now?!  Keep in touch with us here and let us know how things are going for you.  Welcome again!

Teri

hi lisarose,

i am pretty new to this site too, but i've been following your story for a few nights.  it does seem that cardio boys, some of them anyway, seem to downplay the symptoms of women.  my cardio boy did the same thing, told me i just needed to get more exercise, even though i have a strong genetic history of heart probs and failed 2-3 stress tests.  i went so someone else, who did a heart cath the next week - 3 stents and 2 arteries 99% blocked.  so much for the recommendation to just get more exercise! 

my point here is that i think we have to all be somewhat aggressive in our approach to health care these days.  it is hard, sometimes, to get docs to respond in what we hope is a more personal and caring way.  right now i feel lucky that my cardiologist is a caring young man who seems genuinely interested in my recovery and well-being.  so they ARE out there!  find yourself a new one as you find yourself a new hospital!

best of luck with all this.  this seems a great forum, and i look forward to hearing more about you/from you.

libby

can you give me a brief rundown of how this forum is organized?

i clicked on other topics within heart & cardio and found so many

other forum-looking links, and saw your name on a few of the

threads.  i don't fully understand how this all works - and i hope

when i say that you don't hold it against me that yes, i do have

a phd in technology!  just goes to show you, the best dressed

dawg is not always the smartest - hahah!

thanks,

libby