and the angioplasty goes to...

...JOEHAMMED!!!

Okee dokee.

So.

After the procedure, Joe's doctor came out to speak with me and, for some reason, my heart started pounding out through my chest. Not sure why, but I all of a sudden freaked out. It was unnecessary, though, as the doctor proceeded to tell me that everything went fine.

He said it ended up being more complicated than they originally thought. Meaning, they went up through the femoral artery in the left leg (which is what they normally do) and they found that one of the kidney arteries (there are more than one!) showed significant constriction. It was a little more than 75% closed!

So they definitely decided to go ahead with the angioplasty.

The doctor said that the reason it was complicated, though, is because of the way that the kidney was transplanted. He said it was transplanted beautifully, but that the location made it difficult to keep the catheter coming in from the left side. So they realized that it was more advantageous to do the angioplasty from the right side. Which means that they ended up taking the tube out of the left side and putting one in through the right side.

OUCH!!!

But the angioplasty went really well. Hooray!!

They took the balloon and opened the artery and then removed the balloon. They saw that the artery did not stay 100% opened, but the doctor said it stayed at 90% opened, which is significant....and a heck of a lot better than the 25% opened it was before!

Also, the doctor said he was very hesitant to put in a stent to keep it open because he said that sometimes a stent can become consumed by scar tissue and cause additional closure of the artery...plus a stent can never be removed. And he was hesitant to do that because this is Joe's only working kidney, which made him more conservative in this procedure (<-- good thing!). So...he decided to leave the artery at 90% opened and then Joe will go back in about 6 months for an ultrasound to see if there is any closure or if it looks okay.

I am hoping that it will look okay, so keep your fingers crossed!!