Doctors recommend angio-therapy and bypass surgery

Three instances of heart problems within three months had got my doctors worried and, with my retirement coming up, they suggested that I get an angio-therapy done in Mumbai hospital. Their intentions were good because as long as I was in employment, the cost of my treatment would be borne by the company. They wanted me to take advantage of this facility.
But, there were difficulties – I had to go to Mumbai and, during angiography, if the blockages were serious, a decision would have to be taken by my family as to whether the doctors should proceed to the next step which was that of inserting stents or go in for bypass surgery. In case it came to that stage, my family would have to keep ready blood donors.

And, it had all to be arranged in advance. Once at the operation table, decisions would have to be taken immediately. Well – I knew that the condition of my heart was not good. The LVEF was low and 2D-Echo had revealed blockages but my treadmill results were fair enough. Therefore, I decided to get the angiography done and bring back the test results.
My son accompanied me to Mumbai and I stayed with my brother. He had good contacts in Mumbai and that was a great help. I had to stay in the hospital for two days. The period was in 2003 and the practice at the time was to carry out what was known in medical terms as invasive therapy – a capillary tube was inserted through the pelvic region into the heart and images of the internal setup were captured.
The initial recommendation of the cardiologist was that I should go in for bypass surgery which I was not willing to do. I wanted the results of the procedure and, here, my brother’s contacts paid off because the hospital said that I would have to wait till next day for the report but timely interference by him ensured that I got the report within a few hours.
I came back to Nashik with the report and met my doctors along with a heart specialist who used to come once a week as a consultant to the hospital. I confided in them that since I still had one year service left, I could always opt for bypass surgery within that period to avail of the free treatment. (to be continued …)

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