Cath, Cows & Collectables — Lung Story Short...

Wednesday we got to sleep in for a little, which was extremely necessary since we both were running on super reserve of energy. Rima's one and only appointment for the day was her heart cath at 11am. A long, thin, flexible tube called a catheter would be put into a blood vessel in her neck and threaded to her heart. Through the catheter, the doctor would be able to do some diagnostic tests on Rima's heart, to make sure everything is in tip top shape. We were told that Rima would be half sedated for this procedure. She was not able to eat or drink anything after 6am. So by 11am she was already starving. Out of solidarity I also avoided food and drink. Upon arrival to her room we were informed that she would not be half sedated for this but fully awake, only the incision area would be numbed.

This worked in our favor because we were under the impression that after, Rima would be a bit out of it and would probably not want to do much. Now we had the opportunity to do somethings after and see a little bit more of Minneapolis. The nurses prepped her in the room and then they took her into a sterile room for the procedure. It only took about 30 minutes, once the cath was started. When she was out she changed and we were off. It was about 3pm by the time we got out and we were starving! Some of the staff had recommended the Red Cow when we inquired about a good place to get a burger. So we moseyed on over to down town Minneapolis where the spot was located. Downtown is super cute, lots of old brick buildings. It reminded me a bit of Louisville, very cute.

**Rima's take on the heart cath:

No big deal cause I've had one done before in like 2011, but clearly I didn't remember much since I thought I was having conscious sedation for it. It didn't help that two separate people said I was also. Anyways, in the prep room I put on a lovely gown and then they put emla on my neck where they would be going in. Emla is a cream used to numb the skin. They put in under a tegaderm to keep it in place. Once I got in there I noticed how large room was, with sterile equipment everywhere and many monitors on a fixed station right by the table I would be laying on. About 6 of them. These monitors would allow me to see what they were doing during the procedure. Of course this room is pretty friggen cold to keep all these machines and such. Mind you I'm wearing a skimpy gown. Luckily they wrap me in a warm blanket once I climb onto the table (carefully so I don't end up flashing someone in the room).

The nurses start putting the O2 monitor and blood pressure cuff on and proceed to tuck me in with a sterile plastic like blanket thing. One nurse pops out of nowhere with a blue disinfecting foam wand to clean my neck where the emla cream was on, as well as putting a sterile blue barrier to cover my neck with an opening in it for my vein. Once that's on, a fellow comes and says "Hi" and locates the right part of the vein with ultrasound and says he's going to stick me with lidocaine (numbing shit that burns like bee sting). Basically that's the worst part of the procedure. After I'm all numbed up, they jab a needle into the vein and thread a wire through and down into the heart. I like that I can see what's going on with the inside but I'm also one of those people that likes to see what's happening when they go in with a needle or any kind of procedure. But since my neck is turned to the side and they are working on my neck.... I can't see shit.

After the wire is down in there they insert a plastic sheath like an IV in the neck to keep that part firm so it's easy for the catheter part to go down. The catheter has a pressure gauge sensor at the end of it to take the measurements. Having the catheter put in wasn't very pleasant, not because it hurt but because it felt like they were just shoving that sucker in there. Lots of pressure pushing down to feed it through the IV opening (I'm going to be very sore). After they got it down there, I could see it on the screen with the X-ray (looked like a worm/parasite). To get the measurements the fellow had me take in a breath and hold it while he counted to five. We did this about 3-4 times. Finally, we were done! They took out the catheter and wire which felt like a lot of pressure while he was yanking it out (Yay, I'm free!). Then a nurse had to hold pressure there for about two minutes so I don't bleed out basically. In the end I had a very sore neck, sneezing, coughing, and laughing were not fun. For some reason we ended up laughing a lot that day. Even with the thing in my neck during the procedure I was laughing about something.

The Red Cow did not disappoint. We arrived on the off hour of lunch so no one was in the restaurant. The decor was cool, super cow themed. They even had meat hooks on the ceiling. This place is not for the none carnivore. We each got burgers. I ate all of mine....typical and Rima got through half, which is progress. After we drove back to the uptown area and went to some antique shops. One in particular called Hunt & Gather. Super eclectic inside and out! If you're ever in the area and want to look at some cool stuff, go!

I randomly had a hankering for some froyo. So, we found a place close by and got some. Rima was not in the mood beforehand but once we got there she asked for some testers and then fell into the froyo boat with me. We got home round 6pm and hung out for a bit. Our brains were mashed, yet again. So we decompressed with some animal and scare cam videos. Thursday was going to be another long day of appointments back to back. Side note, if you ever need to occupy your time in a hospital, get snapchat. It's been a total lifesaver over the last few days. We've harassed our friends with a possible overkill of distorted filtered photos. The tomato filter is our favorite at the moment, you have to do it with noises, otherwise it's not as funny. Things you learn in waiting rooms...