Angie & Jim

All Doneby Jim

Sorry for the late post. We’re home now and Angie is sleeping. This procedure made her REALLY sleepy. The procedure went well and the doctor said “her numbers look good,” which was what we were hoping for. We still need to hear from her main cardiologist, but I don’t think there are going to be any surprises.

The doctor also said he saw one of her collateral vessels had grown a bit so they coiled it off. I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but he went on to explain that sometimes blood vessels try to find their own way around an obstruction or path of resistance, but they can become places where blood gets stuck and doesn’t flow properly. They can coil them off using the catheter to prevent it from being a problem for her circulation.

Unfortunately, as she was waking up in recovery, she complained about some very strong shoulder pain. The nurse thought maybe it was due to positioning during the procedure, but as she started waking up more, it was clear that it was more than just a sore shoulder. They sent us up to the floor to a room while we waited for the rest of her 4 hours of lying flat. The nurse could see Angie was in a lot of pain, so she ordered something a little stronger. That helped a bit, but I think it made Angie really sleepy. We order her some dinner and she spent a few hours resting and then we came home.

When I told the doctor about the pain, he said that sometimes when they coil off a collateral it can cause referred pain elsewhere in the body, especially when it is close to the lung tissue. He said she’ll be in pain for a couple days, but that it should go away. They sent us home with some pain medication for a couple days to help her be comfortable.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your love and concern for us!