I agree you should have an Angiogram done, however, my concern was and still is - and may be, it should be yours too - that my Agaston Score iwas 1243 with my LAD alone at 783. That, obviously, indicates a lot of Calcium in my LAD. During an Angiogram they like to stent right away and that would be generally the right thing to do, but what about all that Calcium? That should be removed first before they stent otherwise they might damage the artery.
Thanks for your reply. I understand what you are saying and I know it is oversimplification on my part but if given a choice between new pipes and fixing up the old ones in a house it almost seems to be worth the effort and cost to replace the pipes. That is how I look at it, and again I know very little. I just want to make sure before I get the Angiogram that the cardiologist isn't going to try to just fix the old pipes if a new set is needed. I'm not getting how that process works in the medical community. Am I wrong to assume a cardiologist is going to prefer to stent me up during the angiogram? Does the cardiologist and surgeon collaborate on a decision?
Trust me, the old pipes are still better than the new ones - the replacement is not new anyway and yours arteries are hardly lived in. But it may be a moot point, if they determine that there is too much Calcium Phosphate in the artery they will do a bypass anyway unless you find a surgeon who will ream them out - as long as we are talking about pipes.
If you have Calcium in your arteries, you certainly have more than that in most situations. I don't think cleaning out the arteries is an option, or even possible.
I've had both bypass surgeries and I think ten stents. The bypass surgery was done as I had to blockages in areas very difficult to insert stents. All my stents have remained open, but my bypass failed about two years after surgery, they plugged with plaque and blood clots, so using a new stenting technique my native arteries were opened. I'm relating this to you so you can understand there aren't easy answers, especially by us laypeople!
If the blockages are in a difficult position, e.g. the 'ostial' position (where the diagonal arteries branch off, bypass is I think the usual option. Your interventionalist would determine the best way to go. You will be awake and able to think somewhat clearly, but you won't remember conversations! Also, generally blockages in the LAD are the most dangerous, they referred to as 'widow-makers'.
A third but uncertain option is trying to develop collateral arteries, which are tiny vessels that sometimes enlarge enough to serve as major vessels. However, that involves a lot of drugs, exercise and a lot of finger-crossing. I can't develop them.
I would certainly educate yourself, but when it comes down to a decision what to do, I'd hire the best and most experienced cardiologist and trust his/her judgement.