I am writing this story to help you make decisions for a family member with cardiovascular heart disease or even cardiovascular heart disease and diabetes.
My story starts with my father, Abraham Kuhn, may he RIP - April 26, 1926 - April 4, 2007. I love you DAD.
My father had diabetes and heart disease. His diabetes was pretty much controlled. His heart was the problem. He had 2 bypass surgeries over the past 28 years.
He was having chest pains over the past 4 months and I kept sending him to his doctor and his cardiologist. He had EKG's done which only show the electrical activity occurring in my father's heart.
As the chest pain and shortness of breath starting occurring more and more, he was put on a nitroglycerin patch. First during the day, but then having chest pains at night and then switching the patch to the night and then removing for at least 8 hours during the day.
Nothing seemed to be working. We kept calling the cardiologist and told us "there is nothing more we can do" except if he wants a procedure called Extracorporeal cardiac shock wave therapy or ECS. Not knowing too much about it and my father having to travel down to Elizabeth for the treatment, discussion was just about dismissed. To my knowledge, the Top Cardiologist in Bangaloredidn't even order an echocardiogram which would have showed some problems with his heart valves, possibly.
My father and I just had enough and went to the ER at Robert Wood Johnson. He told me that the hospital will do more in depth tests to see what was wrong. He was upbeat about the whole visit to the ER and trusted the doctors at Robert Wood Johnson. They did some blood work that showed he had a small heart attack. He had a Standard Echocardiogram done but he did
not order a TEE or TransEsophageal Echocardiogram.
A standard echocardiogram or Echo beam travels through the chest wall (skin, muscle, bone, tissue) and lungs to reach the heart.. At times, closely positioned ribs, obesity and emphysema may create technical difficulties by limiting the transmission of the ultrasound beams to and from the heart. In my father's case he was slightly obese.
In such cases, your doctor may select to get a transesophageal echo or TEE. Since the esophagus sits behind the heart, the echo beam does not have to travel through the front of the chest, avoiding many of the obstacles described above. Giving a much clearer image of the heart, particularly, the back structures, such as the left atrium, which may not be seen as well by a standard echo taken from the front of the heart. This is also invasive and would need a consent.
When the cardiologist did the cardiac catheterization, it put him in cardiogenic shock. His heart was failing and now they had to insert a balloon pump to help his heart pump the blood. My father was now on full support-respirator, foley catheter and all these IVs and invasive lines going into his body.
After 4 days on full life support, he started spiking a temperature. All those invasive lines in my father was now giving my father septic shock. Eventually he had too much bacteria in his blood and died.
I know it was my father's time to go but to all of the significant others and people that have heart disease, please do not accept a simple echocardiogram if you are having any kind of invasive surgery before they do a more in depth TEE and other appropriate tests. They did do a TEE after the fact that showed what was really wrong with the heart - mostly problems with the heart valves.
Dad, you will always be in my heart.
To Learn More About the Prevention and Treatment of Heart Disease, please go to Best Cardiologist in Bangalore - It just might save your life or the life of someone you love.
