Left and Right Heart Catheterization for Greg Today

So, most of you on Facebook knew Greg was having the heart catheterization today and gave us lots of prayers and good thoughts and juju and we can't thank you enough for that!   

As per usual, Greg did not have an "ordinary" catheterization.  He had a left heart catheterization and a right heart catheterization.   When he came out of the operating room, he had one IV in the left arm, a catheter near his groin on the right side, a catheter near his elbow on the right side and a catheter in the artery in his right wrist.   

Below is a drawing of Greg's heart and what the doctor found (click on the picture for an enlarged view): 

Part of the reason for the "double" cath is because they needed a closer look at his Mitral Valve, as that has shown up as potentially being a problem over five years ago.  It was time to really look at it and fortunately, there is no significant stenosis of that valve.  Mitral stenosis is a narrowing of the heart's mitral valve where the valve doesn't open properly, blocking blood flow into the main pumping chamber of the heart (left ventricle).    The picture above shows that Greg does have some mild blockage, but it's not enough to do any sort of by-pass surgery, so that's goo.  The stent he had placed over ten years ago is still doing well.  

The most significant finding is that Greg has what is called a "stiff" heart.   A stiff heart occurs when the heart muscle thickens in response to high blood pressure. While initially this thickening helps increase pump function to maintain blood flow to the body, eventually, the pump starts to stiffen and pressure starts to build up in the heart leading to shortness of breath and fluid retention both in the lungs and in the legs. This is referred to as congestive heart failure.  Greg's heart failure was caused by too much of a chemotherapy drug called Adriamycin.  

The doctor ordered another Echocardiogram, even though Greg just had one in March.  Now that we have a diagnosis for Greg, I'm assuming the echo was needed to specifically review the "stiff" heart issue and the echo was able to done right in the room, so we didn't have to schedule another appointment for that.  

Greg does have to have another nuclear radiology exam next week.  Sorry, I don't remember the name of the test, but it's not one he's had before.  

Because they had to give him extra fluids to help to flush out the dye or whatever they use, there was a lot of time just waiting and I had some shopping to do, so I ran down to Walmart to pick up a few things.  It was actually the first time I've been in a big box store since early March!  I made sure to wear my mask, and was pleasantly surprised to find so many others also wearing masks, including all the employees.   I have not found that to be the case in our local grocery store.   I did my best to stay away from everyone, and was leery of even going there, but I had to pick up a prescription today, so I didn't have much choice.   I got back in plenty of time to get Greg ready to come home, and just as he was finally eating something. 

We finally got home at about 4:30 and Greg went right to bed.  The next couple of days are going to be a little rough for him, because he cannot use his right wrist.  That means no pushing up to get out of a chair or get out of bed, or using his cane in his right hand.   That is where they went into an artery.  If he does do that, he could develop a huge hematoma in his forearm, or blood could go spurting across the room!  If that happens, it's a 9-1-1 call for an ambulance!  Goodness knows we don't need to add an ambulance trip to his repertoire!   When he had his last cath, about 20 years ago, he had a "plug" in the artery near his groin, and blew the plug!  I was 25 miles away at work and called a neighbor to run over there and take him to the hospital and met them there!  My dad had the same thing happen, and ironically, so did Greg's dad!   I'll be keeping a close eye on him, and they gave him a sling to wear, so he remembers not to use that right hand/wrist.  We'll see how that goes. 

So, we are on the way to figuring out what's happening with his heart.  Now, if we could just get the tests done on his diaphragm, to see what can be done, we'd be really happy!  For those that don't know, we found out in March that the left side of his diaphragm is paralyzed or "frozen."  That is a huge part of why he can't even take ten steps without wheezing and being out of breath.  The tests that took six weeks to get scheduled were canceled because of COVID-19.   I sure hope we don't have to wait another six weeks to schedule those tests.  It really sucks when you can't even walk down eight stairs without being out of breath!   

Again, thanks to everyone for your prayers and well wishes.  We're getting there!  I have to say, Greg is probably the strongest person I have ever met and I am always astonished at how well he handles all these health issues.  He truly is Iron Man! 

Love, Peace and Prayers to all! 

Julie