Now for the rest of the story
:clap:
The good news---I am home and feeling fine:cool_one:
I should have been home yesterday but I hit a rough spot in the road. I'll make this short and then get on with the really interesting part of this story.
I have come to find out that I have a reaction to the general anesthesia drugs that seem to be commonly used--they swell my prostrate gland making it difficult/impossible to pass urine. My surgeries in Sept of last year were not an issue because I had a catheter in for at least a week in ICU. It was a problem in Nov when I went back for the skin graft, but it cleared itself after a day or two of discomfort.
This time was worse and it took me far too long to convince the medical staff that I was in serious distress. They did an ultra scan of my bladder and said there was only 260 ml in my bladder. I finally prevailed and they inserted a catheter and drained out 1400 ml! I had immediate relief and over the next 12 hours life improved:bleh:
Now---to the good stuff---and this is quite amazing to me. I had a device called a Watchman implanted, there is a link in the other thread.
Quote:
WATCHMAN™ The left atrial appendage (LAA) is a small sac in the top left chamber in the heart. If you have atrial fibrillation (afib), an irregular heart beat does not allow blood to pump efficiently out of the heart. Blood can pool in the LAA, leading to high risk of blood clots and ultimately stroke
This clotting issue is why I have been on blood thinners, which as everyone knows, damn near killed me last fall. The watchman will allow me to stop using the blood thinners.
Now to the amazing story, which only unfolded to me on Tuesday: the doctor that was in charge of this procedure is only one of three doctors involved---thus they do this procedure only the second Tuesday of each month to avoid their own scheduling issues. They do a maximum of four each month---I was number four for March. Total to date 86.
The "team" breaks down into a "cameraman/director" who went in through my mouth with a scope, and I believe an ultra sound, and somehow directs (I didn't get much understandable description of exactly how he does that).
The other two take up positions on each side, one entered a major vein in my lower abdomen , the second entered my femoral artery on the opposite side of my abdomen. First they go in and check out the job site. The opening that they are about to block has to be measured to determine the appropriate size device, of which there are four. The average opening is about the diameter of a quarter.
Once they have sized up the opening they then take the device in--which I will describe as a tiny umbrella which is closed up. They place the umbrella in the opening---and working together they open the device with the handle end pointed into the chamber. They now pull that back lodging it into the opening--they might sew it in place but I am not sure of that.
OK---now comes the magic part----I will continue taking warfrain (blood thinner) for 45 days---at which time they have some way of determining success----by verifying that your heart has done its part---by growing over the device and sealing the opening to the left atrial appendage---and they have a success rate of just over 94% of that happening:omfg:
My :hatoff: is off to all the people that come up with this stuff---I still find it hard to believe some of these things---and then, in this case backing out, and allowing the body to have the "last word":flower:
Not until I was proofing this write up did I realize, I said nothing about "after effects" and pain---because for me there have been NONE:bowdown: The most discomfort was this morning when the Nurse Practitioner pulled the tape off the two entry points---I literally feel nothing---no pain--no discomfort---nothing:getdown:
Science is truly am amazing thing:hyper::hyper:
I am back to work next week and my only restriction is lifting anything over 10 pounds.
