C. S. Mott Children's Hospital
Caths
This section is what getting a cath or EP study without general anesthesia is like. That means that you'll be awake but sleepy during the procedure.
Some kids come in the day of their cath, some come the day before and some have them while they're staying in the hospital. Regardless, you'll be asked not to eat for six hours before the procedure because some of the medicines you'll get may upset your stomach if it has food in it.
You and your parents will go down to the cath or EP lab and you'll get changed into a gown. There will be a lot of big machines there. Some take pictures of the heart's electrical activity (see EKG), some let the doctors see inside your heart, some help you breathe, some can correct bad heart rhythms, and a lot of them are just normal computers.
There will also be lots of people there who look like they're in their pajamas. They will have bonnets or kerchiefs on to keep their hair back and masks to keep their germs on them and not on you. Some of the people are doctors, some are nurses and some are technicians.
Once you're lying down, they may put an IV in you if you don't already have one. IVs hurt bad for a few seconds but once they're in they don't hurt much. Just tell your doctor that he or she had better get it right on the first try so they don't have to poke you more than once! When they get the IV in, they'll use it to give you medicine that makes you very sleepy and a little dizzy.
Your parents will then be asked to leave the room for a little while.
The next thing you'll feel them do is put the electrodes with the wires attached to them on your chest. They'll put a blood pressure cuff on your arm too. They strap your arms and legs down too so you can't move much. If you moved a lot it could mess them up, but it's not very comfortable not being able to move and you can't hit the doctors if they hurt you. Chances are you'll be too tired to move anyway, but if bad comes to worse you can always try to do what I did to the doctors— bite them.
Then they'll put a bunch of blue blankets on you, leaving just a space at the top of your right leg uncovered. These little blankets are sterile, which means they don't have any germs at all on them. This is one of the ways the doctors keep you from getting an infection.
Now comes a part that hurts. You'll feel a big poke at the top of your leg which is the local anesthetic. This poke will make you unable to feel any other pokes there. This is a very good thing because there are going to be a lot of other pokes there but you won't be able to feel them.
What the doctors will do is put two to four catheters in a big vein and possibly an artery in your leg and move them up into your heart. Catheters are like big wires that have different things on the tips of them depending on what the doctors need to help your heart. Some people don't feel anything when the doctors move the catheters around, some people say it tickles and others say it hurts.
Your job is to tell the doctors when it hurts because they have medicines that can stop the pain.
Most of the cath or EP study is very boring, but they might have a movie you can watch during it, or you can bring in one of your own. In the end, the doctors will take the catheters out and one of them will hold a bandage on your leg to make it stop bleeding. Then they will put a very big sticky bandage on you. Then you will go up to the floor. You will have to stay lying down for about four or five hours after the test is over to make sure your leg doesn't start bleeding again.
Some kids get upset stomachs from the test, so you can't eat for a while afterwards. When your stomach feels better, you can have a popsicle or some juice. Some kids stay overnight after their procedure. Your mom or dad can stay with you. Some kids get to go home four to six hours after their procedure.
You will have a big bandage on your leg. This will come off the day after the procedure. Your mom or dad can help you with this. It will hurt because it is a big bandage.
When you first get up, your leg will hurt when you walk around. The more you walk on it though, the less it will hurt. You get to take a wheelchair ride to your car.