Anna's Posts

Well my TEE I just had on 10/31 at CC, came out differently than the one I had at a local hospital on 7/31. Much better actually - T1 mitral valve and T1/2 in aortic valve. LVEF went up to 50%. So no need for any valve intervention at this time, yeh! But….some blood work came back a little elevated - the NT Pro BNP, that's a heart failure marker. I have been more SOB since our return from CC, so my local cardiologist recently added both Aldactone and Lasix (low doses) to my medicine cocktail. Has anyone had any experience with this test and SOB symptoms? I guess it's possible something's changed in this short time frame. I was feeling so good, and positive and scheduled for total knee replacement next month. But now I don't know, having second thoughts on this surgery.

Well I finally got my second opinion TEE done at the Cleveland Clinic yesterday. I was surprised I was only given moderate sedation (80 mg Versed, 200 mcg Fentanyl) and don't put you to sleep. I was told that they don't routinely use anesthesiology for TEEs and the RNs cannot administer propofol. My first TEE was 3 months ago (different facility) I got propofol for that and was completely out. This was a very surreal experience as I was awake and dreamy asleep at the same time, felt the probe going down but was not in pain. They did make me gargle and swallow some horrid tasting stuff that numbs your throat. Has anyone else had this experience being semi awake during a TEE?