Karen Cleveland
Contributor
After reading the PFO diagnosis thread, I thought I would my post my experience.
3 weeks ago I had a PFO closed (Amplatzer device) at the Arizona Heart Hospital.
The decision to be tested was made about a year ago based on more frequent occurance of skin bends and what I called "the eye thing" after my deep dives. The eye thing is this http://www.eyeguys.net/ocularmigraineThe first time this occurred after diving was after a 260 ft dive about 6 or 7 years ago and then maybe once or twice a year on deep dives but over the last 2 years it was happening more frequently.....I am not going into the details of each one of these dives because it would make an already long post unbearable
Anyway, I finally decided after much research that I wanted to get tested for a PFO (I had already had a brain MRI years earlier trying to figure out the eye thing)...I opted for the easy echocariogram with color doppler study...none invasive, cost me $100 after insurance. The hard part was convincing the resident at my family medicine clinic to prescibe the test. So I had the test and 3 weeks later after they found the results (they had misplaced them) I had tested positive for a PFO (the report read: sm. left to right shunt probably there since birth; bubble study needed to determine if right to left exists).
Now the real decision needs to be made and a referral to a cardiologist...when asked about my options and that I possibly wanted to have it closed the response was "it's not our thing" and that is a direct quote. So now the research begins for a cardiologist.
I ended up at the AZ Heart Institute and they did another echo test and confirmed the PFO and also did a bubble study (no right to left shunt was seen on that) and they gave me the results right then and I made an appointment to talk to the Dr Robert Strumpf who does all the PFO closures....he happened to be on vacation and I knew he was who I wanted to speak with. All the techs that did my tests were facinated by the the whole deep diving thing and told me I should just get it closed because the procedure wasn't a big deal and Dr. Strumpf did them all the time for stroke patients.
So I talked with Dr Strumpf asked tons of questions and decided to have the procedure done and would try to schedule it in Oct 2006. Well, then they recalled a piece of equipment they use to implant the device and due to work projects on my part and the recall, the Dr and I both decided it would be best to wait until Jan.
I finally had the procedure done on Jan 19th at 3:30pm and walked out the next day at 10am. They implanted an Amplatzer device to close the hole by going into femoral vein or artery at the groin. The worst part of the whole thing was that I agreed to let the student nurses start my IV's....bad idea. And the other unpleasant part was after the procedure (I may have been awake but do not remember any of it) you have to lie flat for 6-8 hours to make sure you do not bleed out of the femoral vein or artery where they went through to implant the device. Oh, and the use the TEE to place the device or something because my throat hurt for 3 days... And I have to be on blood thinners (Plavix) for 6 months.
On my follow up apt. last week, I am cleared to do recreational diving on Mar 1, but no deep dives. I go back in April and we will talk about when I can do any deep dives then.
Will this fix, my skin bends....don't know, but the piece of mind that it is closed was worth it to me to get it fixed. Also the Dr said that having this closed may prevent a stroke later in my life and may cure any headaches...these are big MAYS.
I have not gotten a bill yet so I can't comment on what the cost of the whole thing is. I do know the closure device is around $3600 alone. But having to sit out on the over 200ft dives (a limit I set for myself after the PFO discovery)while everyone else was seeing cool stuff was driving me insane.... So far I am glad I had the procedure.
Karen
3 weeks ago I had a PFO closed (Amplatzer device) at the Arizona Heart Hospital.
The decision to be tested was made about a year ago based on more frequent occurance of skin bends and what I called "the eye thing" after my deep dives. The eye thing is this http://www.eyeguys.net/ocularmigraineThe first time this occurred after diving was after a 260 ft dive about 6 or 7 years ago and then maybe once or twice a year on deep dives but over the last 2 years it was happening more frequently.....I am not going into the details of each one of these dives because it would make an already long post unbearable
Anyway, I finally decided after much research that I wanted to get tested for a PFO (I had already had a brain MRI years earlier trying to figure out the eye thing)...I opted for the easy echocariogram with color doppler study...none invasive, cost me $100 after insurance. The hard part was convincing the resident at my family medicine clinic to prescibe the test. So I had the test and 3 weeks later after they found the results (they had misplaced them) I had tested positive for a PFO (the report read: sm. left to right shunt probably there since birth; bubble study needed to determine if right to left exists).
Now the real decision needs to be made and a referral to a cardiologist...when asked about my options and that I possibly wanted to have it closed the response was "it's not our thing" and that is a direct quote. So now the research begins for a cardiologist.
I ended up at the AZ Heart Institute and they did another echo test and confirmed the PFO and also did a bubble study (no right to left shunt was seen on that) and they gave me the results right then and I made an appointment to talk to the Dr Robert Strumpf who does all the PFO closures....he happened to be on vacation and I knew he was who I wanted to speak with. All the techs that did my tests were facinated by the the whole deep diving thing and told me I should just get it closed because the procedure wasn't a big deal and Dr. Strumpf did them all the time for stroke patients.
So I talked with Dr Strumpf asked tons of questions and decided to have the procedure done and would try to schedule it in Oct 2006. Well, then they recalled a piece of equipment they use to implant the device and due to work projects on my part and the recall, the Dr and I both decided it would be best to wait until Jan.
I finally had the procedure done on Jan 19th at 3:30pm and walked out the next day at 10am. They implanted an Amplatzer device to close the hole by going into femoral vein or artery at the groin. The worst part of the whole thing was that I agreed to let the student nurses start my IV's....bad idea. And the other unpleasant part was after the procedure (I may have been awake but do not remember any of it) you have to lie flat for 6-8 hours to make sure you do not bleed out of the femoral vein or artery where they went through to implant the device. Oh, and the use the TEE to place the device or something because my throat hurt for 3 days... And I have to be on blood thinners (Plavix) for 6 months.
On my follow up apt. last week, I am cleared to do recreational diving on Mar 1, but no deep dives. I go back in April and we will talk about when I can do any deep dives then.
Will this fix, my skin bends....don't know, but the piece of mind that it is closed was worth it to me to get it fixed. Also the Dr said that having this closed may prevent a stroke later in my life and may cure any headaches...these are big MAYS.
I have not gotten a bill yet so I can't comment on what the cost of the whole thing is. I do know the closure device is around $3600 alone. But having to sit out on the over 200ft dives (a limit I set for myself after the PFO discovery)while everyone else was seeing cool stuff was driving me insane.... So far I am glad I had the procedure.
Karen
