Dave had one put in after he had a near fatal heart attack. That was way back in '96. No problem with the procedure and no problem with the stent for the rest of his life.

It's a fairly easy, not too invasive procedure. They put you in a twilight type sleep where you don't care what they are doing and insert a tiny catheter from either the groin area or the wrist area up to the heart and take pictures (you're given a dye to make the arteries stand out) of what's happening and then, if necessary, put the stent in at the same time. Recovery is generally quick and hospital stay is usually day surgery.

yeah they told me to check in a 5:30 am and would be done just after lunch. they did the nuke stress test last week and found the blockage.
but i am always anxious at a hospital regardless.

They are actually called 'stents'. A 'stint' is a period of time spent at a particular activity.

I had triple bypass surgery in 2019. They did the angiogram but found the partial blockages could not be stented.

I’ve had it done and the procedure is as Sherry described, with one small exception in my case. I wasn’t anesthetized into that twilight state, because the doctor wanted to be able to talk to me and have me see what was going. They gave me just enough medication to take the edge off my anxiety, and had me watch on a monitor the wriggling artery that was the source of the problem while he inserted the stent. The whole procedure only took a few minutes. I spent more time in pre-op prep and post-op recovery than in the operating room. The only post-op limitation was to take it easy for a few days after to avoid having the insertion site in my groin start bleeding. That was more than a decade ago and everything has been fine since.

I don't have one, but I figure that shouldn't stop me from b.s.ing like I had one. 

We have a friend from back when we taught on remote reserves... might only cross paths once or twice a year, especially as she continued teaching after we'd retired. This particular friend is "different," though my wife prefers to say, ".... she's really good-hearted," ... which is also accurate.

Anyhoo, one time she asked about my health and I nonchalantly made some remark about it being quite unremarkable other than having had a stent put in.  I toot-de-sweet proceeded to forget all about it .... until the next summer when we met up  ... and she right-off asked how things were with my stent. 

What stent?!?!?   

[I had fess up.  ]

Cold-hearted people need stents ,, sorta like car seat warmers …. (dark humour,, couldn’t resist)
Good luck with the procedure, Terry,,, you’ll be good for another 45 years or so. 

I think i ..skipped them...
Wholly n completely.... :0/

I never had any stents installed, but I had a calcified valve replaced at Jefferson in Philadelphia. After the operation I had to go back and get some heart cells killed as one side was enlarged. Then I had to go back a third time for a cardiac electrician to give me an electric shock to get the rhythm set right.
The staff at Jefferson were some of the greatest, most dedicated people I've ever met.

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Originally posted by RonR

I never had any stents installed, but I had a calcified valve replaced at Jefferson in Philadelphia. After the operation I had to go back and get some heart cells killed as one side was enlarged. Then I had to go back a third time for a cardiac electrician to give me an electric shock to get the rhythm set right.
The staff at Jefferson were some of the greatest, most dedicated people I've ever met.

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But, are you still eating cheese steaks?  Provolone or cheese wiz? ;-). Brad

I have 4, had my first one 2012 and 3 more by Jan of 2015. Had to go on blood thinner with that many and freeze all the time. They were a piece of cake. I watched on the monitor with some of mine and slept thru the others. 

They say if you play a right handed banjo up side down really helps!! It's not bad at all Terry, good luck with it.

i just hope it helps me from being so tired all the time and getting exhausted in a short time.... i have copd too and i tire so quick and start with the short breathing. doc says this should help that since it is a coronary artery . we'll see .

   simple chores outside are a struggle and our stairs test me ... helping her mom up and down the steps is tough on both of us LOL !  or doing laundry down stairs is even tough climbing stairs and carrying clothes.
any how after this we start on lungs ,, got a new lung doctor who gets me after this is over. hospital and doctors on the payment plan..... LOL !!

quote:

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Originally posted by rinemb

quote:

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Originally posted by RonR

I never had any stents installed, but I had a calcified valve replaced at Jefferson in Philadelphia. After the operation I had to go back and get some heart cells killed as one side was enlarged. Then I had to go back a third time for a cardiac electrician to give me an electric shock to get the rhythm set right.
The staff at Jefferson were some of the greatest, most dedicated people I've ever met.

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But, are you still eating cheese steaks?  Provolone or cheese wiz? ;-). Brad

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I have modified my diet as I like it here on earth.

If they give you a choice of through the groin or wrist. Do the wrist, I have had both and while I felt neither were bad, through the wrist was better. When they go through the groin you have to lie on your back with a weight on the entry point for a few hours.

I have had a quadruple bypass also and the surgeon was so good I slept through the whole thing.

I have one. Another artery was cleared with a balloon. They went through my wrist. I still got prepped in the groin. Took the medical community 6 months to sort it out. That was after a TIA.

The artery called the "widowmaker" was just about shut down.

Thought living a clean life. was enough. No smoking, very minimal drinking, not much meat and am thin and fairly active. Heredity trumped all that.
After we were done, I realized all my father's siblings had heart issues they died of. My father did not get to test that since he passed from cancer when I was 2.

Whole deal was pretty simple. No pain.

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Originally posted by lazlototh

I have one. Another artery was cleared with a balloon. They went through my wrist. I still got prepped in the groin. Took the medical community 6 months to sort it out. That was after a TIA.

The artery called the "widowmaker" was just about shut down.

Thought living a clean life. was enough. No smoking, very minimal drinking, not much meat and am thin and fairly active. Heredity trumped all that.
After we were done, I realized all my father's siblings had heart issues they died of. My father did not get to test that since he passed from cancer when I was 2.

Whole deal was pretty simple. No pain.

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I also had never smoked, non-drinker, cyclist that also rode most of the time to and from work. 

My oldest sister and I are the only two in a family of five kids to have by-pass surgery. She also is a cyclist that averaged more that 12,000 miles a year for 50 years, after 70 she is down to about half that.

I just had one put in last Monday to deal with some blockage. The worst part was limiting the use of my right arm for three days. No fly fishing and no banjo playing.

... cyclist... non-smoker ... non-drinker ... I think I'm seeing a trend here.   

And knowing how important extrapolation is here on BHO, I think the message is quickly coming into focus.   

And tongue [farther] in cheek Terry ... about getting your MIL up and down the stairs ... just remember that for goin' down, gravity is your friend. [Yer welcome.]

^^ notwithstanding, I hope all goes well for you.

Edit: And speaking of blockages, I think it was dat who reminded up to keep our sodium levels up so the heart would have enough ooomph to power through the minor blockages.  

Had one back in 2018.......been fine ever since.........changed diet and get more exercise.....feeling better now than I did for years.....

my question is for those who have had one installed. could you tell a difference in how you felt afterwards ? if so explain.

thanks

well he got in there and found no blockages... so i guess thats good. he told me the that echos and nuke stess test are just a guide to what is possible not what is certain. the actual cath with dye is the only way to tell for sure.. i got to watch as he did it.

So no blockages means nothing to stent? Good for you.

I've had one since 2014. I felt no different afterward. Of course, I felt nothing before, either, except the chest pain incident that made me go to the hospital.