Little Kentucky ER Nurse We Are Gonna Take Good Care of You!

Sunday, August 7, 2011 8:46 PM, CDT

The ER doctor had explained that they thought I had a blockage in a coronary artery (probably the circumflex) that had a flap that had broken away but not completely and was blocking the artery almost completely.  The NTG I received in the ambulance dilated the arteries enough to provide blood flow again and therefore no pain on arrival to the ER.  But the NTG wore off during the CT and the pain resumed and the blockage was back and so the EKG changes were present.  I am trying to take all this in, in my drugged, freaked out, itching arm state of mind and he keeps saying everything is good, they will balloon the blockage and place a stent and you will be good to go.  Really?  WOW!  That IS awesome!  A cardiologist comes and explains the cath and stent to me and the cath lab staff is ready to whisk me away.  Everyone is excited because I passed the Allen's test and can have my cath in my wrist.  I am excited too because that means no bedrest postcath, unlike my cath in 2006 (which was negative by the way) and which was in the groin.  Off we go to the cath lab and Tracy has to leave me at the doors to wait in the waiting room and my head is spinning and this is surreal and can this be happening? And remember that pain, that pain, the most awful pain ever...please do anything to make it never come back again. 

The cath lab staff was super nice and everyone kept telling me everything was good and no problem and we will take care of this little Kentucky ER nurse and here comes the Versed and Fentanyl, night, night...Next thing I know I am looking at the cardiologist who says you had a 95% blockage of your LAD and we put a stent in your artery and most people who have this type of blockage arent doing as well as you are. They call them the widowmaker, you are very lucky... Well, that sounds good, I am doing good.  But oh man my right wrist is killing me.  I look at it and see a clear plastic velcro band is around the wrist and man, is it digging into the skin.  It has been blown up with air to provide pressure to the radial artery and after two hours the air can be released 1 mL at a time.  Misery!   My hand was twice its normal size and my thumb and wrist were numb.  I will never have a wrist cath again!  Give me bedrest and no pain any day!  Later I found out that they had trouble getting the correct angle at the heart when doing the cath and had to move the catheter back and forth several times and this was given as the reason for the excessive swelling and pain.  Whatever, it sucked!

They take me to my new room on the telemetry floor and tell me I am as good as new and will go home in the morning and...I don't know, they must have told me a million things but I was worn out.  Someone came and did a bedside 2D echocardiogram and I don't even remember having it done.  Miranda arrived shortly after this and then a new patient arrived in the bed next to me (the room was semi-private and that was not good!)  Can I just rest now?  Did any of this happen?  Sleepy, I am very sleepy...