Blood Pressure...

Grant said:
No
During December I had 2 stents implanted.
So while blood flow has increased, so are you faced with the risk of platelets "sticking" to the stents, which again has the potential to decrease blood flow.

Long story short, I'm a bypass candidate.
Sometimes stents are not really appropriate, but in my case they were.
So for now it's wait and see to avoid being carved up like a Christmas turkey.
I suspect the stents are for now simply delaying the inevitable.

Some inherit the family silver.
I inherited the junk hearts.
My mother and her 3 siblings have all have invasive surgery (multiple procedures) all died as a result of cardiac arrest.
The writing is pretty much on the wall.
Click to expand...
Eish, sorry to hear mate. All of the best for you.
 
Grant said:
No
During December I had 2 stents implanted.
So while blood flow has increased, so are you faced with the risk of platelets "sticking" to the stents, which again has the potential to decrease blood flow.

Long story short, I'm a bypass candidate.
Sometimes stents are not really appropriate, but in my case they were.
So for now it's wait and see to avoid being carved up like a Christmas turkey.
I suspect the stents are for now simply delaying the inevitable.

Some inherit the family silver.
I inherited the junk hearts.
My mother and her 3 siblings have all have invasive surgery (multiple procedures) all died as a result of cardiac arrest.
The writing is pretty much on the wall.
Click to expand...
Ah nice, a fellow stent-bro! May your tiny titanium friends serve you well! You'll be on the antiplatelets for about a year, after which it's aspirin for life. But you'll be good to go as long as you keep taking your meds, do your rehab and make the most of your new life.

I, too, inherited a bad heart (RIP Mom and Dad), and I've had a stent wedged into my left coronary since 2018.

Don't worry about the chop because if they think stenting is still an option, bypass is really the last thing they'll want to do (it's expensive, invasive and the recovery is ****).
 
Ah, so this confirms it then.

Measured my BP this morning :

watch - 117/73

cuff machine - 164/104
I said nee man, try again
162/107

ok, cuff machine wins

So you have been warned. Do not trust the watch's BP monitor, it is not accurate enough.
 
The_Librarian said:
Ah, so this confirms it then.

Measured my BP this morning :

watch - 117/73

cuff machine - 164/104
I said nee man, try again
162/107

ok, cuff machine wins

So you have been warned. Do not trust the watch's BP monitor, it is not accurate enough.
Click to expand...
Yeah my wife doesn't trust her watch either, she also has hypertension.
 
The Voice said:
Don't worry about the chop because if they think stenting is still an option, bypass is really the last thing they'll want to do (it's expensive, invasive and the recovery is ****).
Click to expand...
There's a certain irony here, although no longer in clinical practice, I'm a cardiac perfusionist - the ones tasked to maintain external life support via cardio-pulmonary bypass equipment (the heart-lung machine etc) .
I've spent about 3500 hrs gazing into ppl's open chests during surgery.
Needless to say, I never ever considered the prospect of me ever landing up on the carving platter - but here I am.!

Having said that, I'm not particularly concerned. Cardiac surgery has become very routine. It looks more complicated than it is. Unlike other surgeries, once the sternum is out the way, you're in - somewhat like opening the bonnet of a car.
 
Grant said:
There's a certain irony here, although no longer in clinical practice, I'm a cardiac perfusionist - the ones tasked to maintain external life support via cardio-pulmonary bypass equipment (the heart-lung machine etc) .
I've spent about 3500 hrs gazing into ppl's open chests during surgery.
Needless to say, I never ever considered the prospect of me ever landing up on the carving platter - but here I am.!

Having said that, I'm not particularly concerned. Cardiac surgery has become very routine. It looks more complicated than it is. Unlike other surgeries, once the sternum is out the way, you're in - somewhat like opening the bonnet of a car.
Click to expand...
Makes one wonder what Chris Barnard thought when doing a heart transplant for the very first time. Nobody to offer advice and to help him, he was going it alone, the first ever pioneer.

Must've taken a hectic lot of planning as well....
 
Lupus said:
Yeah my wife doesn't trust her watch either, she also has hypertension.
Click to expand...
Measuring at the wrist area is notoriously inaccurate. If the wrist is below heart level you will get a false higher pressure reading.
If the wrist is above the heart, you'll get a false lower pressure reading.

Hydrostatic pressure comes into play.
Arteries in the wrist area are thinner and closer to the skin surface than those of the upper arm.

One can expect a systolic pressure differential of at least 5 to maximum of 20mmhg when comparing arm reading to wrist reading. The accuracy of the wrist device is an additional factor.

For those with a watch or other wrist device, do yourselves a quick favour and pop into your GP, dischem, or whatever and have a proper reading taken and compare it to that of your wrist device at the same time.
This will give a bit of a benchmark in terms of determining probable real pressure vs that on the display of the wrist device.

And always - hight of wrist to be the same as heart when using a wrist device
 
The_Librarian said:
Makes one wonder what Chris Barnard thought when doing a heart transplant for the very first time. Nobody to offer advice and to help him, he was going it alone, the first ever pioneer.

Must've taken a hectic lot of planning as well....
Click to expand...
Christiaan Barnard hospital is interesting to explore. The walls of each floor have various displays.
On 6th floor (ccu, icu, and theatres) they have the handwritten notes pre transplant and after the death of Louis Washkansky.
There is also a display of all the artificial heart valves used over time.
 
Grant said:
Measuring at the wrist area is notoriously inaccurate. If the wrist is below heart level you will get a false higher pressure reading.
If the wrist is above the heart, you'll get a false lower pressure reading.

Hydrostatic pressure comes into play.
Arteries in the wrist area are thinner and closer to the skin surface than those of the upper arm.

One can expect a systolic pressure differential of at least 5 to maximum of 20mmhg when comparing arm reading to wrist reading. The accuracy of the wrist device is an additional factor.

For those with a watch or other wrist device, do yourselves a quick favour and pop into your GP, dischem, or whatever and have a proper reading taken and compare it to that of your wrist device at the same time.
This will give a bit of a benchmark in terms of determining probable real pressure vs that on the display of the wrist device.

And always - hight of wrist to be the same as heart when using a wrist device
Click to expand...
Ah, thank you for that information, really is appreciated! :)

Now I know why the instructions said that the cuff need to be on the same level as your heart.

Just for kicks, I decided to act on Grant's information (as per above).

1st measure with watch (hand held up high as if calling for the teacher's attention) : 120/75
2nd measure with hand held at heart level : 120/75
3rd measure with hand pointing down to the floor : 125/68

Measurement with cuff machine : 140/90 (had eaten some chips and salty snacks)

Conclusion - watch is useless
 
Grant said:
Christiaan Barnard hospital is interesting to explore. The walls of each floor have various displays.
On 6th floor (ccu, icu, and theatres) they have the handwritten notes pre transplant and after the death of Louis Washkansky.
There is also a display of all the artificial heart valves used over time.
Click to expand...
Definitely going to plan a trip for my kids to that side sooner or later.
 
The_Librarian said:
Makes one wonder what Chris Barnard thought when doing a heart transplant for the very first time. Nobody to offer advice and to help him, he was going it alone, the first ever pioneer.

Must've taken a hectic lot of planning as well....
Click to expand...
As you go into CB hospital there is a sculpture suspended from the ceiling of the main entrance which is supposed to depict the empty chest waiting for its donor heart
IMG_20170107_150846.jpg


IMG_20170111_185602.jpg


Chris Barnard's surgical notes:
IMG_20170115_194834.jpg


The display in the cabinet is a vase - a congratulations gift to Barnard from Salvador Dali
IMG_20170116_170358.jpg


A very surreal incident.
I was waiting for the lift, while waiting I was reading the transplant notes.
After I left, 2 minutes from the hospital I see a display of old cars
IMG_20170325_165210.jpg

At the end, I see a jaguar
IMG_20170325_163131.jpg

IMG_20170325_163159.jpg


I'm looking at the car, and the owner comes along.
We are talking about the car, then he mentions "the car has an interesting history - it was Louis Washansky's car, the 1st successful heart transplant patient. He drove the car to the hospital on the day he was admitted".
For me, it was a strange experience having just read his surgical record 15 minutes prior to stumbling upon the man's car.
 
Last edited:
The_Librarian said:
Ah, so this confirms it then.

Measured my BP this morning :

watch - 117/73

cuff machine - 164/104
I said nee man, try again
162/107

ok, cuff machine wins

So you have been warned. Do not trust the watch's BP monitor, it is not accurate enough.
Click to expand...
I also bought one of those Polaroid watches from Takealot based on the good reviews it received. The only accurate number from it is the time. I've seen it show heart rates that are literally half the number compared to other devices.
 
Grant said:
A very surreal incident.
I was waiting for the lift, while waiting I was reading the transplant notes.
After I left, 2 minutes from the hospital I see a display of old cars
View attachment 1027850

At the end, I see a jaguar
View attachment 1027854

View attachment 1027856


I'm looking at the car, and the owner comes along.
We are talking about the car, then he mentions "the car has an interesting history - it was Louis Washansky's car, the 1st successful heart transplant patient. He drove the car to the hospital on the day he was admitted".
For me, it was a strange experience having just read his surgical record 15 minutes prior to stumbling upon the man's car.
Click to expand...
Those cars are beautiful @Grant . They have character and style, which today's cars just don't have.

And yoh, what a surreal experience...
 
bobcpt said:
I also bought one of those Polaroid watches from Takealot based on the good reviews it received. The only accurate number from it is the time. I've seen it show heart rates that are literally half the number compared to other devices.
Click to expand...
For me everything's accurate - time and heart rate.

Not sure about the oxygen%. Blood pressure is right out.

What is your experience with battery life? After a bit of faffing around, I got it to be lean on power consumption. It was charged full on Friday night, and now it is down to 86%. Not too bad. @Binary Bark
 
bobcpt said:
I also bought one of those Polaroid watches from Takealot based on the good reviews it received. The only accurate number from it is the time. I've seen it show heart rates that are literally half the number compared to other devices.
Click to expand...

The_Librarian said:
For me everything's accurate - time and heart rate.

Not sure about the oxygen%. Blood pressure is right out.

What is your experience with battery life? After a bit of faffing around, I got it to be lean on power consumption. It was charged full on Friday night, and now it is down to 86%. Not too bad. @Binary Bark
Click to expand...
Can be between 3, 2 & 1 week. Depending on use. If you turn off the constant heart rate monitor it can go for almost a month with normal use.
The constant heart rate monitor option will chow the battery, but I have mine on, still get about 2.5 - 3 weeks on a charge.
Had my Poloroid form 27.10.20, and it's still going well
 
Binary Bark said:
Cool, preferred the more 'retro' round one.

Did you switch on or off the constant heart rate monitor?
Click to expand...
I had it off when I got the watch.

I also switched off the Quick View as the watch switches itself on when I move my arm, was irritating.

I just put a finger on the watch face, it goes on, good enough for me.

Switched on continuous heart rate on just now... is curious to see what data I'll get from it.
 
The_Librarian said:
I had it off when I got the watch.

I also switched off the Quick View as the watch switches itself on when I move my arm, was irritating.

I just put a finger on the watch face, it goes on, good enough for me.

Switched on continuous heart rate on just now... is curious to see what data I'll get from it.
Click to expand...
It is quite interesting to see during the day, but be warned it will reduce the battery life on one charge
 
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