Post #443,759
12/6/23 5:59:22 PM
12/6/23 5:59:22 PM
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Thing #2 going in Monday to have a heart defect fixed
Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Short version: There's pathways through/around the heart that electrical signals travel to make it beat. She has an extra pathway that causes a short-circuit. They're going to go in through the femoral arteries and ablate the extra pathway.
The procedure is relatively low risk, but it is putting foreign objects inside her heart and burning part of it off. So, that's fun to think about.
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Post #443,763
12/7/23 3:42:52 AM
12/7/23 3:42:52 AM
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Heart work.
My heart attack (about 2 years ago) was the LAD, known in medical terms as "The Widow Maker". Fortunately, I had no one to widow, so I survived and am doing very well. This all has given me a great deal of respect for folks in the heart business.
Three groups worked on me. The Fire Guys were very prompt, and very skilled. They told me I needed real specialists, so took me to Huntington hospital (very top grade). The cardiologist looked at the EKG made by the Fire Guys and said, "This is serious", and I was in surgery within 10 minutes of arrival.
I am now under the watchful eyes of a cardiologist and electro-cardiologist at Pacific Heart. They want to see me every 6 months.
I have the option of having a little umbrella implanted in my heart so they can take me off anti-coagulants.
Anyway, if the folks out there are as skilled as they are here, there should be no serious problems.
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Post #443,764
12/7/23 8:57:59 AM
12/7/23 8:57:59 AM
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I live 20 minutes from Cleveland Clinic
Not a branch, the actual one.
The first doc in Reno said, "Yeah, this is fairly straightforward. We're gonna do an echo to determine exactly where the defect is." After the echo, the doc said, "Yeah, you wanna go see someone who has done a lot of these."
The extra pathway that has to be ablated is close to the central cluster of pathways in the center of the heart. Miss by just a bit and you get a pacemaker.
The doc here said, "Yup, he's right about the location. I've never had a problem with that one, and we've got some tricks to lower the risk."
Online ratings for the dude are stellar. Nothing more to do but wait. (Oh, and call our insurance.)
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Post #443,771
12/8/23 9:37:34 AM
12/8/23 9:37:34 AM
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A coworker's grandmother just had the umbrella thing
Outpatient procedure, which blows my mind.
They tried three times with different shapes, but it kept popping out. They finally decided that was because the pocket was large enough that she didn't actually need the umbrella, nor the anticoagulants. Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #443,772
12/8/23 9:38:05 AM
12/8/23 9:38:05 AM
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Godspeed to her.
She's in good hands there. Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #443,778
12/11/23 1:50:39 PM
12/11/23 1:50:39 PM
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Just finished, everything looking good
We expect her to be released tonight, as long as she comes out of the anesthesia ok.
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Post #443,781
12/12/23 1:54:52 PM
12/12/23 1:54:52 PM
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Yay
And there was much rejoicing.
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Post #443,782
12/12/23 2:59:14 PM
12/12/23 2:59:15 PM
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Still looking good
She puked on them when she came out of the anesthesia, but doesn't remember it. We told them about family history with that, so they were expecting it.
Now her throat is sore from the breathing tube, but otherwise she's feeling great. Already noticing she feels better. This is the kind of procedure that's literally flipping a switch.
The doc says she was pretty much constantly in tachycardia and just acclimated to it as "normal". Once the incisions from the catheters heal and she's able to start lifting things and doing work, she should feel like a completely new person.
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Post #443,784
12/13/23 12:27:46 AM
12/13/23 12:27:46 AM
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winner
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
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Post #443,785
12/13/23 8:21:37 AM
12/13/23 8:21:37 AM
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(thumb-up-emoji)
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Post #443,786
12/14/23 8:10:59 PM
12/14/23 8:10:59 PM
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Nice!
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Post #443,787
12/14/23 8:48:32 PM
12/14/23 8:48:32 PM
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Great!
Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #443,799
12/25/23 8:23:36 PM
12/25/23 8:23:36 PM
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Great news. Thanks.
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