Itās been a while since I visited this place. While I havenāt been private about this information, I havenāt really updated anything on this app. Iām going to do my best to summarize the last eight months of my medical history. If you have any questions, please let me know.
After Thanksgiving in 2023, I was hospitalized for a week. At first I thought it was Covid and theyād send me homeāinstead they did an angiogram of my heart and discovered I had two blocked arteries. One was blocked 90% (this was in the Widow Maker artery) and the other is blocked 100%. The cardiologist put a stint in the Widow Maker and gave me some new medications
The diagnosis was Transplant Vasculopathy. From my own understanding, it is a build up caused by anti-rejection medications and is a sign of heart rejection. If I hadnāt gone to the hospital at the time, something worse may have happened. Since the diagnosis, I have been meeting with this doctor as my new local cardiologist and have established care back with UCLA.
In April, we went to UCLA for an angiogram, where they checked on the blockage. While there wasnāt any improvement, it didnāt get any worse. Around that time, my local cardiologist wanted to plan an angiogram where we would open up the artery that is 100% blocked with a balloon angioplasty. We got it scheduled for July 5th, and things didnāt go as planned.
The blockage had grown significantly! The cardiologist did make an attempt to make a sizable opening, but didnāt want to risk further damage. The hospital did not have an appropriately sized stent, so they ended it there. The cardiologist said that they could easily order a stent the proper size, but it is also in an awkward place. The blockage is near my groin area, and we donāt want to aggravate the stent by bending it, and you bend your legs all the time.
So what are the next steps? Well, weāll find out tomorrow. The doctor will lay out what we can do and discuss best treatments. Thatās roughly eight months summarized as best as I can for you. My mood has definitely varied this last year and have had to wade through many other changes.
