Keeps me searching for a ***** ** **** and I'm getting old

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Not exactly a Heart of Gold, but at least no major problems uncovered when I had my angiogram on Friday - although I will now be going on to statins to help reduce my cholesterol level - to add to the beta blockers I started last week.

Both are still fairly low dose levels and are largely preventative - as much to minimise potential future problems as to cure current issues.

Lucy asked me to describe my day and the experience on Friday, so here goes:

Jo and I got to ARI in good time - before the scheduled 8am arrival. Ward 41 is a small 2 room unit for private patients and we got excellent treatment - 3 nurses looking after me - there was nobody in the other room. A short questionnaire, then the first of many blood pressure checks, followed by blood samples taken and then an ECG.

It was then just a waiting game - obviously any emergencies got priority in the theatre - so we just sat and read the paper and our books until I was told to put my gown on just after 11am to get ready for a call from the theatre - oh, and by the way, here's a razor - use it!

It's a long haul from Ward 41 down to the new cardiac theatre but I was down there for all the identity etc checks well before noon, and I saw my doctor for the first time - I had to sign a consent form. Because of the invasive nature of the procedure, there's apparently about a 0.1% risk that things can go wrong and the procedure itself can cause cardiac arrest or stroke.

Finally in to theatre for all the pre-ops. It's very high tech and there's lots of prep work. I was horizontal by this time and couldn't see exactly what was going on but they must have applied a local anaesthetic before my doctor came in and inserted the tube - not sure who made the aperture to the main artery in the groin.

I had been warned to expect a feeling like a hot flush, but this never happened. In fact, it was all over before I realised it. There's a bank of 6 screens to my left that the surgeon is watching but I couldn't see them all the time as the overhead x-ray camera is remotely controlled and is about the size of a TV screen itself, so it was often blocking the screens out for me.

The good thing about the procedure is that you get the answers there and then - you don't have to wait. Dr. Broadhurst told me everything was OK - no blockages - just a couple of minor warps in the vessels, which were, he thought, merely symptoms of age. Ideally, all the surfaces should be completely smooth, but he said there was absolutely no cause for concern. He did suggest, however, that I should now start on statins to keep my cholesterol level down and try to avoid or minimise any future problems.

So, I was then wheeled back to my room but had to remain horizontal for a while. It was now over 16 hours since I'd last eaten and I was starving, but I had to wait almost another hour before they gradually raised the back of my bed sufficiently for me to eat something. It was only hospital fish and chips, but, frankly, I'd have eaten a wean's scabby heid.

I was then given a card I have to carry in my wallet for the next 90 days - in case I'm involved in a car accident, say, and the plug in my groin comes out and the artery opens.

We had to wait another couple of hours before I was allowed to get up, go to the loo then get dressed, but we still managed to get home well before 4:30 pm.

I took it easy, as advised, but, apart from a bit of tenderness in the groin area, felt OK. Jo turned to me after tea and said "I'll give you a lift to the pub and back, if you like - I assume you are meeting your pals as usual?" I hadn't even thought about it - I'd been told I would have to lay up for several days. I gave it a bit of thought and then said OK - I'll go down for a little while then. The subliminal message was, I think, that Jo wanted me out to get the big TV to herself. Ross ran me down at 9pm and I got a lift back from Jayne Williamson at 10pm, so it was short and sweet.

On Saturday, I awoke and had a quick look at the groin area - I'd been told that it would feel like I'd been kicked by a horse and would be covered in bruising. - but there was nothing. I showered - no baths allowed - and removed the dressing to reveal the dispersible plug blocking the hole to my artery. Everything seemed fine, but we put a new dressing on anyway.

The rest of the day was just lazing around with the papers and the TV. Gary came over just before lunch to take Jo in to town to do some wedding essentials - cake, ring etc. - so I had the place to myself. Golf and cricket on TV are ideal soporific aids when you're supposed to be recuperating.

We decided to go for a bar supper to the Tor-na-Coille hotel and asked Colin to join us - he was on his own and had been travelling up and down to Ninewells Hospital, Dundee since Wednesday. Johanne had picked up an infection which had exposed the transmitting unit in her breastbone for her Parkinson's, and she was getting the unit moved on Monday. We had a nice meal again and it's good that they seem to be getting the place back to a decent standard.

So, here I am blogging again. It's Sunday morning - still no sign of bruising, and other than a little nausea and tiredness, no apparent after-effects from the procedure, so I plan to go back to work tomorrow after all - but perhaps not all day.