After an 11 day staycation (4 stents) at 3 different facilities I'm finally back home. Unfortunately I have to go back in another couple of weeks for a 2nd procedure (a 5th stent) but hopefully that'll be an overnighter. Here's the only piece of advice I can give you, if you think it's just a really bad case of heartburn or stomach pain go to the ER anyway to be safe. I exhibited no normal heart attack symptoms, not one. In fact it was originally diagnosed as a hiatal hernia with possible ulcer and they scheduled me for an endoscopy. When it hit the 2nd time my enzymes finally went whacky and off on an adventure we went. After much consultation I was given options and after weighing all factors, such as up front risk, pain, recovery time, my age (80), etc I opted for stents over bypass.
You all probably know what bypass involves but might not have the full picture on the stents procedure. You lay on the table, they tape down your right arm, give you a relaxant via IV (but you are wide awake), and the catheter goes up your right arm. You do not feel anything. They wheel you back to your room and you eat lunch, stay overnight, and get discharged the next morning. The only dark cloud is hospital food, the 1st hospital was really good, the 2nd was awful, and the 3rd somewhere in between. I finally ended up ordering just cereal or a salad.
You all probably know what bypass involves but might not have the full picture on the stents procedure. You lay on the table, they tape down your right arm, give you a relaxant via IV (but you are wide awake), and the catheter goes up your right arm. You do not feel anything. They wheel you back to your room and you eat lunch, stay overnight, and get discharged the next morning. The only dark cloud is hospital food, the 1st hospital was really good, the 2nd was awful, and the 3rd somewhere in between. I finally ended up ordering just cereal or a salad.
