Here’s an interesting consequence from heart surgery


You know that hole between the two main chambers of the heart some babies have that has to be fixed? Well, it usually closes fine on its own, but when it closes up it leaves a weak spot behind, and guess how cardio docs get the cath through from one side of the heart to the other when they balloon clogged arteries or put in stents? That’s right, they shove it through the weak spot mother nature leaves behind. News to me.

Sometimes that newly created hole doesn’t close up on its own and I may be one of those lucky duckies. I’m told it’s relatively easy to fix, it means another cath, and in some cases they don’t have to do anything. My cardiologist will decide which group I belong to, but there’s no fear of another minimally invasive cath here and leaving a hole there can be a stroke risk, that’s one reason heart surgery patients have to take blood thinners for a year or more after getting a stent (Or bypass). I’d just as soon get it fixed asap and not fuck around.

Comments

  1. rowanvt says

    :/ Hope your cardiologist decides soon. I never knew that about stents and it leaves me kinda horrified.

  2. Holms says

    The fuck is wrong with you, Trebuchet?

    Relax! It was a shot against alternative therapies, not Steven.

  3. Karen Locke says

    Stephen, your luck continues to run true to form. This streak has got to break soon.

  4. says

    I’m fine with this, even though it could be characterized as bad luck. If a moderately large, easily treatable open PFO is the only side effect from repairing a massive MI that could have killed me or left me an invalid for the few remaining years of life, I consider myself lucky as hell.

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