Here we go again

[captnjeter]

Just when it seems things settle down after my 360 crap out and everything being good, we get, mayhem yet again.

For those not aware, I have Tetrology of Fallot, a heart defect and I have had several surgeries for it. The last one was in 2001, and after that one, they said I should be good (as in no surgeries) for twenty to thirty years. Not bad.

Today I had my annual check-up for it. Everything went well at the beginning (including one nurse saying everything was status quo from my last visit). The doctor came in to take a listen and after that said that things weren't quite right. Some numbers showed up a little odd and my heart sounded a bit more abnormal than usual. He said he recommended a catherization, a procedure to get a better look at the heart. This is what we call "bad news". That procedure would confirm whether I need another (fourth) surgery. He said it wasn't positive, and that he could have just been going crazy, but sincerely thought that I need this to be sure. But he also gave me the option of another check-up in six months and see if anything changed. So my choices are to schedule the catherization for January and hope that everything comes up fine on that. They're a bitch because it's a day where you go to the hospital early, wait an hour for them to process you, spend six hours with IVs and needles in you while they prep and do the thing and then spend a few hours doing nothing but sitting. Pretty crappy, but nothing too terrible. OR, I could wait six months and see if anything comes up fishy the next time I go and then schedule the thing if anything looks bad. But I need to let everyone know by tomorrow, so I don't have much time. I'm leaning towards getting the catherization done and playing it from there, because it's just easier that way. I'm kind of pissed having been lied to about not needing another surgery for a long time, but my family and I realized the wording of it was the conduit wouldn't need to be replaced. The artificial valve is what needs to be replaced, which is supposed to be less invasive.

We'll see how it goes.

[Grejo]

you see this is why everyone asks for a second opinion. no doctor is 100 percent correct.

jeter my prayers go out to you. i know it's nothing too major but surgury is always a serious thing to go through. I'm not sure the symptoms and effects of your defect but i hope all things go well so that this issue doesn't have to bite you in the butt time after time.

i would go and get the catherization but during the time of your last visit until just now, have you noticed anything odd that would be common for those that have the defect? sometimes that second opinion could change things 180 degrees

anyways whatever you decide, i hope it goes very very well.

[Deslock]

As another member here that has heart problems, my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. There is nothing worse than having your own body parts be your enemy.

Every single day that I survive is a good one. When you have problems with your pump, that's not good. And the fear that you have to live with is a scary thing indeed. One good thing I got from it is a true perspective of what's truly important in life.

Stress is almost meaningless to me now. Facing life or death on a daily basis does that to you. I hope and pray that they can make you better and well.

May God grant you good health and a full recovery to normalcy. :)

[Zabka]

Jeter, the cath lab is tiresome, but don't you think getting the piece of mind would be preferrable? At least catheterization is minimmally invasive. Valve replacement isn't that minor, but I guess it is all relative, huh? The surgical techniques and equipment behind artificial valve replacement are really pretty remarkable. Good luck with it all Jeter. I assume you get all this stuff done at North Shore?

[RegentOne]

I am sad to hear your medical dilemma Jeter. I’m with everyone else in saying prayers for you. Do what must be done without delay. I know your family and you will make and take the right course of action. Keep us informed.

[captnjeter]

Yes, most of that will be done at North Shore LIJ, God bless those people. Those guys have known me since day one and Surgeon Vincent Parnell, who has done all major surgeries on me, has gained a cult hero status in my family

Update: After my heart doctor talked to the guy who runs the Cath labs. The conduit they put in me in 2001 was valve-less. It has no valve to be replaced. The reason the numbers are high is because of buildup in the conduit. A whole lot different than the first diagnosis. Now what I need to do is get an MRI done, and I schedule that next week. If it looks bad on that, I go for the Cath and then if that comes up bad, the absolute worst would be the equivalent of angioplasty. Surgery is not a realistic outcome.

Obviously, I am happy.

[Zabka]

Wow that is great news. I would take angioplasty over valve replacement any day. When you say conduit--where is the blockage? Would they insert stents?

[captnjeter]

That's exactly what they'd do. What I took from it was they'd insert the stents similar to how they do the catherization. It'd be through an artery in a leg. I am not sure where the conduit is, as I usually drift off once they get into the technical jargon. I'm not exactly thrilled about what essentially is two catherization procedures (the only thing they change is what goes in me), but compared to surgery it's like night and day.

[Zabka]

angioplasty is a procedure where they usually thread a balloon through the same vessel that you have threaded the catheter through to the site of the blockage. They usually use some sort of imaging to know where they are and when they get to the ultrasound...then the inflate the balloon so that the blockage gets broken apart. Your vessel will have some damage at this site and without a stent, scar tissue will form and recreate the blockage. Stents are little struts that they then insert through the catheter to prop up your damaged vessel to make sure it doesn't close off again. A few years ago, the FDA approved drug eluting stents that had a coating of a drug on the stent that helped prevent the formation of scar tissue over the stent itself (as stent procedures usually have to be redone over time due to this). The data to approve these devices was very compelling. Since then, some issues have cropped up concerning these stents with regards to some side effects as well as doctors using them in unapproved ways (pretty common practice since the approval is usually for a very narrow application). To be honest, I am not extremely deep on that issue at the moment.

Anyway, this is my layman's understanding about what is going on.

And that's great that you are at North Shore. That's one of the finest hospitals in the country. And New York (as well as Cleveland) really is at the forefront of interventional cardiology. You should be in great hands.

[captnjeter]

Well, after months of waiting and weeks of dates switching, I finally have an exact date for this. This Thursday I go in for the preliminary test and stuff like that. Then on the 22nd, I go to Columbia Hospital for the actual procedure. It's an overnight stay and out the next day. Hopefully everything goes well and I can make my radio show the day after I get home.

[RegentOne]

Good luck on that procedure Jeter. Let us know how everything turns out.

[CHRIST]

Good luck man

[captnjeter]

****ing hell

(Sorry for (once again) resurrecting this)

Once again this has come back to **** me like a triple cunted hooker. The first procedure went well. It was a quick recovery and I was back at home the next day. It was then revealed that the stent they placed into the conduit during the procedure was not strong enough to hold the conduit open. The conduit closed very slightly, but enough for them to want to do another cath, and place a much stronger stent in. This was their original idea, but they had to follow the protocol that the bastards at the FDA set up because this procedure is still in the test phase. We scheduled the next cath for May 21st, a week after final exams. This was set up about three weeks ago.

Fast forward to last week. I noticed at Hofstra that I got out of breath a little faster than I normally did during my dreadfully long walk to my classes. Still, I was very much fine and it was more like a fly annoying me than anything more. But today I noticed I could not go on. I had to take a stop and sit down a few times on my way to class. We just paged the nurse at MSCH@NYP and waiting to hear back from them. I feel fine, but even the shortest walk will cause me to get winded.

I'm actually wishing that this cath gets done as soon as possible... like tomorrow (impossible but a man can dream). **** school, **** friends and **** everything else, I just want this to be over with.



Just thought you ought to know.

[Zabka]

Jeter,

that just sounds really rough man. Try to keep your head screwed on straight and get through to the next cath procedure. There plenty of cardiac reasons they may not be looking to place another stent so fast.

Out of curiosity, do they have you on Plavix? Is this a bare metal or drug eluting stent?

[captnjeter]

I'm fine mentally, I just want this to be over with. The stent right now is not full metal (only a small portion is gold) but they stent they are going to put in will be full metal.

They have me on my usual meds and the cardiologist has me on Asprin until up to six months after the cath.

Zabka, I don't know what this is. I suppose it could be anything. I was just sick three weeks ago, I suppose I could still be feeling the after effects of that. This was less of feeling like there was something wrong with my heart and more of a fatigue thing. But I have not felt this bad since... well I can't remember when I last felt this bad. Even before my operation in 2001 I could walk and run and be active. This just feels like I have no energy and can't do a bloody thing. Dr. Hellenbrand did say that he wanted this to be done "sooner rather than later". I just wish that I had started feeling shitty before we scheduled it for May. And whatever is wrong with me I know will be fixed when I get that next cath finished up.