HARD HEARTED HANNAH CAN'T HACK IT!

Last Tuesday night, having trouble getting to sleep due to chest discomfort, and having taken nitroglycerin twice in 15 minutes without relief, I recalled the cardiologist's words of concern the day before when he urged me to come in and let them do angioplasty - "I don't want you to get too comfortable with that chest pain." "If you use nitro twice without relief, call 911!" So I got up, got dressed, packed an overnight bag, and went out and hailed a cab at 2:30 am in the morning. I went to the emergency room at the VAMC, where I get my primary health care and checked in. They connected me to all the required monitors and at 8 am they admitted me to the hospital, transferring me to the ICU. At 4 pm I underwent an angioplasty - they inserted one stent in my Left Coronary Artery, which was about 50% occluded. The Right Coronary Artery is almost 100% blocked, and they decided to leave it alone for the time being, since there was a collateral artery established and flowing well.

Next day I was released, with a ton of medications to take: cholesterol, blood pressure, anti-clotting, nitrate dilators, aspirin, etc. All just what I had hoped to avoid in favor of natural remedies. But it was just too late, and my options appeared to be very limited. So - one stent.

Today, Saturday, I am feeling not much different, although I must say I am sleeping better. But I still cannot walk more than the distance of one city block before I begin to feel shortness of breath and the onset of chest discomfort, although not real pain. I plan to continue walking daily, hoping I can increase stamina and extend the length of the walks as time goes by. This is a long way from the long distance runner I used to be!

The cardiologist instructed me to give this stent about 30 days to see how things go, and if I still feel discomfort and lack energy, to call back and they will take another look at the Right Coronary Artery to see what more can be done. He indicated the RCA would require 3 or 4 stents to open it up, so the procedure would be more difficult than the one I just endured. I am hoping the further stenting will not be necessary.

Any advice out there about how to open up an artery that is 100% blocked?