The Doctor’s Diagram

They call the Transesophageal Echocardiography a TEE for short – not tee as in tee-hee but TEE as in the initials said one at a time.  Not much tee-hee about it!

According to the American Heart Association:  Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a test that produces pictures of your heart. TEE uses high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound) to make detailed pictures of your heart and the arteries that lead to and from it. Unlike a standard echocardiogram, the echo transducer that produces the sound waves for TEE is  to a thin tube that passes through your mouth, down your throat and into your esophagus. Because the esophagus is so close to the upper chambers of the heart, very clear images of those heart structures and valves can be obtained.

The Magic School Bus – Inside The Human Body

According to me and my limited understanding:  Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) borders on magic and is reminiscent of The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body.  In Joanna Cole’s story, illustrator Bruce Degen takes Ms. Frizzle’s class on a visual tour of classmate Arnold’s body, where they flow up a blood vessel and into his heart – a healthy heart, of course.  The whole point of the TEE of Nyel’s heart was to show what the trouble is or, more specifically, how his troubles have improved since his TEE of five weeks ago.

Yesterday’s TEE procedure was the third one Nyel has had in the past few years.  From his point of view, the nurses and technicians set up the equipment at his bedside, right in his hospital room; the anesthesiologist prepares an IV, the doctor arrives, and the next thing he knows thirty minutes have elapsed, the doctor has disappeared, and the nurse and technicians are packing up.

Nyel and “Dr. God”

While Nyel was still ‘out,’ the doctor talked to me briefly about what he had learned and what his thoughts were concerning next steps.  Nyel’s blood clot has diminished by 60 to 70 percent.  The mitral valve regurge is also a bit less. Probably no valve repair or replacement at this time.  Perhaps an upgrade to his pacemaker or maybe just an adjustment.  He will get back to us after consultation with the cardiologist who is one of the Cardiac Electrophysiology specialists on the team.  It might be tomorrow in the time-honored fashion of hurry up and wait.  In any case, we’ll probably be here through most of the weekend while they back off one of the dicier meds…  Still not much tee-hee going on here, but things are looking better.