? heart cath..both sides of heart/dye allergy

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Marguerite53

Premium Level User
Joined
May 18, 2004
Messages
3,635
Location
Oregon
I just scheduled my heart cath for next tuesday (March 7th) and the whole thing is giving me the willies.....so.....a few questions.

The cardio wants a cath to both sides of my heart. Is that normal? Has anyone else here had both sides done? She will be doing the procedure. I've yet to get the "brochure" from her office but I know vaguely what to expect. It does not sound pleasant at all!

Due to spring breaks, and surgeon's vacations, etc., I'm doing this cath before I even have a surgery date (but I have my pre-op appointment 3/20 to choose valve, etc) which all medical people have said is just fine. Is it fine? I suddenly feel like I'm rushing things, but only because my surgeon has not given his office his spring schedule yet and is gone until March 6th. And my kids will be home, in and out for 2 weeks and I want to avoid doing this while they are home. Abit of helplessness has set in......

So all info, guidance and reassurances are welcome :D !!

Thanks!

Marguerite
 
Marguerite53 said:
I just scheduled my heart cath for next tuesday (March 7th) and the whole thing is giving me the willies.....so.....a few questions.

The cardio wants a cath to both sides of my heart. Is that normal? Has anyone else here had both sides done? She will be doing the procedure. I've yet to get the "brochure" from her office but I know vaguely what to expect. It does not sound pleasant at all!

Due to spring breaks, and surgeon's vacations, etc., I'm doing this cath before I even have a surgery date (but I have my pre-op appointment 3/20 to choose valve, etc) which all medical people have said is just fine. Is it fine? I suddenly feel like I'm rushing things, but only because my surgeon has not given his office his spring schedule yet and is gone until March 6th. And my kids will be home, in and out for 2 weeks and I want to avoid doing this while they are home. Abit of helplessness has set in......

So all info, guidance and reassurances are welcome :D !!

Thanks!

Marguerite

Marguerite,
I had two heart caths; both were two sided. My first one was done more than a year in advance of surgery; the second the day before surgery. You're on the right time table. Now relax and breathe!
 
Joe's had both sides done a couple of times. It was no more traumatic than a single sided one. They used one entry point for them. Don't ask me how they manage that. And it was done with Joe being on Heparin. I think they even wheeled him down with the Heparin drip.

It didn't take much longer than for a single one. It's "good" thing. Gives lots and lots of info.
 
I had both sides done the day before my surgery. They had me on Versed so I was in La La land. I woke up a bit during the procedure while they were examining the cardiac vessels and the radiologist pointed out on the monitor the area they were examining. My response was "cool, really neat" and back to La La land I went. They went in from my groin for one side and my neck for the other. The groin site was a bit sore from the closure for a week or so afterwards, but the whole deal was really nothing in the scheme of things. Good luck to you with everything.
 
Heart cath

Heart cath

I had an angiogram and a right heart cath last December before my OHS. It was really a breeze. They gave me some "happy juice" and that was it.. I was kind of awake but not sure I was awake all the time. Did not feel anything, not even them numbing the groin.
Afterwards, I had 2 very small puncture holes in my groin, no bruising, no soreness..I did have to lay down for several hours. After a while, they put up the head of my bed and gave me a pillow. That made all the difference in the world. I could use the edge of the lunch table tray that rolls over the bed to lean my book on and READ!!!
Oh, and I learned why God gave me 5 fingers on my hand. It is to eat baked chicken lying flat on your back with only a spoon as a utensil.:D
 
As you guessed, a heart cath is not real pleasant - but I've found that very few cardiac tests are. The good news is that it's really not that bad either, which several of the others have said. I would echo their comments. Mine was double-sided as well.

I had my cath done before I even had a surgeon, let alone a date. In the end, mine actually ended up being about ten weeks before surgery. It probably depends what they are looking for as far as how long to do it before surgery. In my case, the cardiologist wasn't worried about anything except whether or not my arteries were clear (at least from what I was told). They were, and I assume it's pretty unlikely that they would plug themselves up in a couple months.
 
Oh! Thanks everyone! You really helped. Don't know why I got so freaked out about this, it was totally unexpected! Maybe I'm worried about the dye thing, too. Many years ago, in my 20's, I had a simple kidney test (lots of bladder infections suddenly) and I puffed up like a puffer fish when they injected the dye. I hated this doctor and hated this lab so I just ran out to a phone in the parking lot (no cells at that point) and called my ear-nose-throat doctor (whom I trusted implicitly and whose number I had memorized) who personally got on with me and practically yelled at me "did they give you a shot". Of course I told him I'd refused to take it, to which he started screaming again....go get the shot!!! So ever since, I've recounted this sensitivity to fairly unsympathetic ears and I guess injecting something into my HEART :eek: :eek: also got me all worried. Basically now I shy away from anything iodine and do mention the dye problem to everyone. We'll see!

As I've told you this story, and now, being in my 50's, I think I would never have reacted to the situation that way. It reminds me that we have so many younger, less experienced patients here on the forum. We have to keep in mind how they must be feeling.......the fresh fear and confusion. Fresh, because they probably haven't had the experience in life yet to get a good grasp of everything. ( Of course, some of us never do ;) , but I'm trying!!)

Thanks again!!

Marguerite
 
about the dye...

about the dye...

Marguerite53 said:
Oh! Thanks everyone! You really helped. Don't know why I got so freaked out about this, it was totally unexpected! Maybe I'm worried about the dye thing, too. Many years ago, in my 20's, I had a simple kidney test (lots of bladder infections suddenly) and I puffed up like a puffer fish when they injected the dye. I hated this doctor and hated this lab so I just ran out to a phone in the parking lot (no cells at that point) and called my ear-nose-throat doctor (whom I trusted implicitly and whose number I had memorized) who personally got on with me and practically yelled at me "did they give you a shot". Of course I told him I'd refused to take it, to which he started screaming again....go get the shot!!! So ever since, I've recounted this sensitivity to fairly unsympathetic ears and I guess injecting something into my HEART :eek: :eek: also got me all worried. Basically now I shy away from anything iodine and do mention the dye problem to everyone. We'll see!

As I've told you this story, and now, being in my 50's, I think I would never have reacted to the situation that way. It reminds me that we have so many younger, less experienced patients here on the forum. We have to keep in mind how they must be feeling.......the fresh fear and confusion. Fresh, because they probably haven't had the experience in life yet to get a good grasp of everything. ( Of course, some of us never do ;) , but I'm trying!!)

Thanks again!!

Marguerite

Marguerite, I had a double sided heart cath in October. It was totally uneventful. I had hoped to be more aware and even converse with my cardio during the procedure, but I remember very little about what happened after my visit with the cardio when he first came into the room. I did ask the nurses about the dye. I'm allergic to aspirin, and although there would be no reason to suspect a sensitivity to the dye BECAUSE of that, I was still concerned. I was told that the dye used today is much less of a problem than in years past. Indeed, I had no difficulty at all. My biggest complaint would be the nausea afterwards. My registered nurse daughter, who works in another hospital and frequently cares for heart cath patients, said they routinely used fentanyl rather than morphine. I would certainly ask for that if I were to do a cath again. Otherwise, I was in the clinic only 6 hours -- and that included 2 hours of prep and wait time. I was only a little tender in the entry site for a couple of days. I also had both sides done through one site in the groin area.

'Hopefully your cath will be a breeze... 'Hope so!
Karen
 
Now you mention a dye issue!:eek: :eek:

They've always asked me about the dye before injecting it, and I always say that I don't have any known allergy to it. So I'm sure they'll ask you.
However, with that being said, I think I would call the facility where you're having the cath done, and mention it to them beforehand. I have no idea of what they will say, but it might save you some trouble and worry later on.:)

By the way, like Praline, I only had the two pinpricks in my groin, and there was no discomfort whatsoever. I did experience significant shortness of breath while waiting for the procedure to start. They gave me oxygen throughout, and that took care of it!
 
I seem to remember that they did not want to use the dye for one of Joe's caths because he was in kidney failure at the time. They ended up using something to mitigate the assault on his kidneys from the dye.

However, that is different from an actual allergy to it. So do mention your concerns about dye.
 
dye allergy

dye allergy

When I told the Cleveland Clinic cardiologist that I was allergic to IV dye he gave me large doses of Benadryl and Prednisone to take at home the eve of the procedure and told me to take the same the morning of the test. I am not one of those who is made sleepy with Benadryl; rather it gives me restless legs and makes me want to climb the walls. Unfortunately, even though it worked regarding the dye, I could not keep my legs still throughout the entire procedure. Good thing I had a doctor with a steady hand!!!

The test itself was easy; love that versed!!

Worrying about the test is so much wasted energy; save it for something more difficult.

God bless. Barb
 
About 15 years ago I had an allergic reaction to the dye they used during a scan to look at my kidney function - I gather that its iodine based? And I mentioned this when I recently had an angiogram. They said the dye has changed over the years, but they gave me an anti-histamine *** just in case, and I had no reaction problems at all, except I couldn't stop shaking violently as I came out, but that lasted no more than 5 minutes. I had no happy juice or knock-out meds for the procedure, and if I ever need another angiogram, I would ask for a little something to dull the experience!
 
Thanks, everyone! I called the cardio's office and reminded them of my allergy/sensitivity to dye/iodine (the brochure they mailed me said that the dye is, in fact, iodine based). The cardiologist called me and said she was enough worried about the reaction I had that she will give me 2 days of prednisone, 2 days of H1 and H2 blockers and 3 doses of benedryl!! So, I'm very glad that I spoke up....I think!!

Deep breath.........

Apparently there is a lot of trouble getting parking spaces early in the mornings at the hospital, so at least we'll have Valet Parking when we get there!!:D :D Glad that I can worry more about parking than the procedure! :D

Thanks again for all your help.

Marguerite
 
You sound like me...
petrified of a test that I will actually be in La-La Land for :D

I havent had mine yet either but know now for sure that I will not be fully awake as that happy-juice works really well on me...

That was the only thing that was scaring me about this procedure cos I was feeling faint at the thought of feeling that thing wiggle though me :eek: ...and was working up the courage to ask for IV sedation for the procedure without sounding like a wimp!..

Good luck for Tuesday...

I will be awaiting your post on Tuesday evening to hear how easy it was :D
 
So Glad You Mentioned The Dye!

So Glad You Mentioned The Dye!

Make sure to remind everyone involved when you get there. My youger brother broke his back as a teen. As if that wasn't bad enough, he very nearly died from a reaction to the dye used for x-rays. He was left alone after they administered the dye. Luckily my mother showed up and got the docs and nurses back. Last year he went in for some testing and they wanted to give him some dye. They reassured him it was a different dye, but due to his insistence had the meds right there just in case. They needed them! I think the catheterizations are much easier than when I had mine. I am lucky not to have a problem with the morphine. For me that was the best part. Hope all goes smoothly, and painlessly for you. Brian
 
Just sending our prayers............

Just sending our prayers............

since you have already been reassured that a cath viewing both sides is normal. I have a copy of Katie's last cath pictures and they are amazing. We have to "do" our caths through the neck due to occlusion of the major femoral vessels, but I'm quite sure you will have yours done the routine way through the groin. You will have to remain fairly immobolized for 24 hours following, so be prepared for that. Sending our hugs. Janet
 
EZPZ piece of cake. The worst part is the smal needle to numb the area where they insert the cathiter. You can watch and it doesn't hurt at all. Feels a little weird having that thing in you but other than that it is easy. Don't worry, I have had 3 of them. Good Luck
 
Thanks some more for your reassurances. Brian....well....okay, fear is a good reminder :) . I'm very sorry your brother had such a scare. In our family we never leave someone alone, and demand that someone always be in attendance unless strapped down, when sedated. Sadly, my brother in law was still quite sedated (from an entirely different procedure) but a tech left to gather some films. He rolled off the table IN the hospital, broke his neck and is forever paralyzed now. He's made a remarkable comeback as a human being, but those oversights and accidents are just unbelievable.

My cousin, here in town, DOES angiograms and finally I was able to catch up with him to discuss all this. He, too was wildly reassuring. When I mentioned the premeds he thought that was incredibly nice of the doctor to have that much concern. Normally they just shoot you with benadryl when you're there. He walked me through the whole procedure. Told me to not opt to be put way under so that if I started to feel itchy or hive like (even though that wasn't exactly the reaction I'd had previously......been to hive-land with many antibiotics, tho) I could tell them. And that it would probably be my chest which felt that first if the benadryl needed a boost. He told me of the risks and how it would feel with the dye going in, etc.. I'm much better now, thanks to all the encouragement.

I did find an article I'd printed up last November (quite possibly from a link give to me here) which talks about the necessity to premed for dye sensitive patients. It's from American Family Physician.... www.aafp.org/afp/20021001/1229.html It's titiled, Adverse Reactions to Contrast Material: Recognition, Prevention and Treatment. My cardio has prescribed exactly what they recommend, not that I would ever second guess her, but again, a relief to know that there are guidelines well established.

So, I'll report back, of course, in a day or so. Thanks again for your help and attention.

Marguerite
 
You may want to ask how much that they will "put you out" for the test. I was told by others that I'd be pretty much out of it, assumed that would be the case, but found out that the facility used only a local. Consequently, I was pretty much completely not out of it. You should let them know that la-la land is where you want to be. With the right medication beforehand it won't even be an issue.
Also, ask how long you will need to be there after the procedure and what that will entail. I had the wrong perception that I would be out in an hour or two, but got a much longer wait of 3 or 4 hours before I was allowed to even get up.
I just want you to get your expectations correct because that is half the battle in all this. Also, make sure that your surgeon is comfortable with the likely interval between the cath and the operation. Some want it within 30 days.
Good luck,
Tom
 
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