General Advice Needed- Heart problems

angelfire9

Hi guys n gals

Hubby has been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure

I'm still a bit stunned and not sure what if anything I should be doing

He is still in hospital and going for an angiogram on Monday but given his medical history etc it is expected that he will need an angioplasty

So.... should I look at setting up a place downstairs for him to sleep or is that too much?
Is there anything I should be doing??

mp22

angelfire9 wrote: »

Hi guys n gals

Hubby has been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure

I'm still a bit stunned and not sure what if anything I should be doing

He is still in hospital and going for an angiogram on Monday but given his medical history etc it is expected that he will need an angioplasty

So.... should I look at setting up a place downstairs for him to sleep or is that too much?
Is there anything I should be doing??

Relax is the first thing to do,angioplasty usually requires a night stay in hospital,if he gets a stent it will make a huge improvement to his life.He should be able to go up stairs (carefully )after.

angelfire9

mp22 wrote: »

Relax is the first thing to do,angioplasty usually requires a night stay in hospital,if he gets a stent it will make a huge improvement to his life.He should be able to go up stairs (carefully )after.

Just a 1 night stay? :eek:

I'm as cool as a breeze around himself but inside I'm in tatters

Is there anything i should be doing?

mp22

I've consulted with herself whose seen me through bypass surgery and stents,she says your spot on,keep up the cool calm appearance and himself will be nice and calm.Take it easy and all will turn out good as new.

Hal Emmerich

What age is he?

A close family member has had a few of these, it may be 2 nights in after, depends. Pretty quick release though and he'll be felling alot better after as mp said.

There is no real recovery as such, he'll be as mobile coming out as he was going in, if they go in through the groin--inner thigh (could be the wrist) he'll have to be mindful of the entry point for awhile and he'll probably be put on a tablet (Plavix I think) for a year to prevent clotting.

Is he active?

If not, try and get him to stick at the exercise regime when he gets home and if he smokes gives them up, they're the two main ones. Watch the diet.

You probably have already but if you haven't, don't start googiling angios. Any questions, ask the docs.

It'l be like a conveyor belt in the hospital on Monday, lots of people having to get it done now, he'll have to put on a paper apron, when he's on the bed there'll be a monitor/tv above him so he can see what's going on. I think it's only like 20mins.

All the best.

angelfire9

Thanks for the replies guys
I'm still really worried about him his health isn't great at the best of times
And there is a family history of CHF and CVD as well

He's in his mid 40's I would say moderately active but he has old injuries that make exercising difficult which is what got him into this mess!
On a scale of 1-10 (10 being tip top shape) he's probably 4.5

He's on half a dozen tablets (including Plavix) and has been for a few years personally I think his cardiologist is a d****khead but that's another issue
Apparently as his wife I have no right to question anything because my hubby thinks the doctors are saints and he won't question them at all! :mad:

I'm not worried about the angiogram he has had 3-4 of them in the last few years without any issues
I have googled angioplasty though
Its hard to resist the power of google when you feel like you are being left in the dark

He doesn't smoke which is good
His diet will have lots and lots of rabbit food when he gets home :rolleyes:

He is under alot of stress at work though which is not helping!

I think its the not knowing that is killing me
Getting info from my husband (rte what the doctors are telling him) is like getting blood out of a turnip :mad:

I had war with his consultant 2 years ago because we had a 5 minute consultation which consisted of "lose weight and come back to me" for which we paid €120 :mad:
When i asked if he would review the meds my husband was on (as he'd been on same meds for 4 years) I was asked if i had a medical degree! :eek:

Keep the advice coming, what i really need to know though is what kind of shape he's going to be in after the angioplasty and am i looking at a possible by-pass further down the line (i'm not asking ye that cos i know that only time will tell i'm just venting really)

We have a 5 month old baby I'm not sure I could cope with an invalid husband as well

mp22

Re the meds let me guess,as well as Plavix there might be,aspirin,beta blocker,ace inhibitors,statins,and maybe a blood pressure tablet.Asprin dose will go up for a few months after angioplasty.

angelfire9

mp22 wrote: »

Re the meds let me guess,as well as Plavix there might be,aspirin,beta blocker,ace inhibitors,statins,and maybe a blood pressure tablet.Asprin dose will go up for a few months after angioplasty.

Almost right but not quite
Plavix yes, Crestor (statin) for cholesterol (though he reckons he doesn't have a cholesterol problem), he was on Nu-seal Aspirin but is now on a diuretic so aspirin is contra indicated
Coversyl is his ACE inhibitor
Nebilet is the beta blocker

He is also on I-Korel and has a GTN spray for treatment of Angina

Notice how I know the names of all his meds except for the diuretic which was only added to the list this weekend! :rolleyes:

angelfire9

Do you mind me asking MP22 if you had a By-pass were you able to go back to work afterwards? And approx how long was the recovery period?

mp22

angelfire9 wrote: »

Do you mind me asking MP22 if you had a By-pass were you able to go back to work afterwards? And approx how long was the recovery period?

I had a triple bypass end of July by the following November was back on light duties,it took aprox a year before you get a good as your going to.(I was 43 at the time)

angelfire9

mp22 wrote: »

I had a triple bypass end of July by the following November was back on light duties,it took aprox a year before you get a good as your going to.(I was 43 at the time)

Ok thanks
Looks like he'll be off for the summer then
This opens an entirely new can of worms with regards to finances

I'd actually prefer if they did a by-pass at this stage rather than the "well we'll try this first and see what happens..." school of medicine!

mp22

To be honest both of you want to avoid a bypass if at all possible,I hope that stents will sort out the problems.Good luck