Question concernng heart and transplant

[Bungarian]

I am getting my transplant workup. Yesterday I had a stress test. Today they called and said the test came back abnormal and scheduled an appointment next week to see the doctor. The person who called said normally this means a heart cath will be done.

Will this hurt my chances to get listed?

[MooseMom]

Not necessarily.  It depends on what the doctor finds.

CKD is injurious to the heart in the first place, and the tx people will want to make sure that yours is as healthy as possible to withstand the rigors of surgery.

If the cardiologist finds a problem, the two of you will address it.

It is not at all uncommon for a minor cardiac problem to be found during the workup phase.  It is much better to find out about any problems now than to find out on the operating table!

Let us know how your appointment next week goes!  Good luck

[Deanne]

The whole workup process is stressful and I think part of the stress is because they *do* find things wrong that we never had an inkling of. In my case, they found gallbladder polyps, something in my pancreas, and latent tuberculosis. All of a sudden, it sounds like we're even sicker than we knew we were. Keep your hopes up! From what I've seen here, most of the time, the issues can be resolved and plans for transplant continue.

[Bungarian]

Found out yesterday that I have a blockage in one of the viens in my heart. Having a cath next Wednesday to get it fixed.

One of the dialysis nurses today said it would keep me off the list for at least 6 months because I would need to take Plavix.

[Simon Dog]

One of the dialysis nurses today said it would keep me off the list for at least 6 months because I would need to take Plavix.

The good news is you will still accrue time during those 6 months.   I think you will be "inactive" on the list (accruing time, but not eligible to get "the call")

[marlinfshr]

I have had heart issues (unrelated to dialysis). As a matter of fact a heart issue and the catheterization is what got me here in the first place. That dye is highly toxic to the kidneys.

Now last year I had more heart issues and they found lots of blockage with the catheterization and I needed a bypass. BTW, they hydrated me a bunch and I think toned down the amount of dye a bit so my kidneys didn't get any worse this second catheterization. I was real worried about that and I was adamant they do what they can to protect them. The difference this second time was it was to check something (which they found) and could be put off a bit for hydration where the first time I had it done I was having a heart attack and they needed to go in ASAP to place a few stents. No time for hydrating me so it was either my heart or kidneys and the heart won out!

As far as for transplant, when I went for my initial evaluation they told me they would recommend a year post heart attack before I could be transplanted and sure enough, when I was originally listed I was accruing time but on "hold" as far as receiving until clearance from the transplant teams cardiologist. I saw her a year after my initial heart attack/stents and I was changed to "active". They never mentioned the Plavix affecting it or not but I needed to be off it for a few days before they placed my PD catheter as well as 5 days before my bypass.

Now last August I had a quad bypass and my heart was only putting out about 20%. After my surgery it went up to 32% and they were talking about a possible difibulator and pacemaker if I didn't improve but 2 month's later it was up to 37% and now, 6 more month's and I feel a lot better so it is probably more. BTW, it was 55% (very good) when I saw the transplant cardiologist 2 month's before my bypass. Needless to say I have been worried about not being transplantable. I called the transplant coordinator shortly after my bypass to fill them in and she stated that they would get the records from the hospital. That was month's ago and I still receive a letter every other month from the hospital I'm listed at showing my statis is "active". They still haven't gotten up with me about scheduling a follow up with their cardiologist which I thought was strange. Now regarding the Plavix, I have been off that since December so the only blood thinner I'm on is baby aspirin. I think every transplant hospital has slightly different rules regarding what passes and what doesn't.

[Michael Murphy]

While I am not transplant eligible ( frequent bouts of skin cancer). In 2008 I had 6 stents put in my heart during a angioplasty in 2012  I needed rotator cuff surgery and they had me do a angiogram and the cardiac surgeon found no changes in the X-rays.  The best news is after the first procedure I had to lie still for 12 hours after to prevent bleeding at the insertion site.  The last one I was told it would be 2 hours much better.  Some places now go through the wrist which I hear is even easier.  All in all not much worse the hemp.