Cardiac cath? what to expect? whats next?

I have heart problems in my family. I have had chest pain on and off for years. I have had abnormal ekg's and abnormal stress test. I was put on correg 12.5 mg bid. with good results for almost a year. Well the pain is back and ekg show more abnormalities. Doctor said I had bunnies ears on right bottom and now it is right upper and lower. Doctor said I had a blockage in my bundle branches. She explained the whole thing including pictures but I was so nervous I didnt get any of it. I am scheduled for a cardiac cath on the 12th. What good will that do? can they unblock it while in there? Why didnt she just increase correg? she was going to then decided to wait for cath results. My blockage in in my bundles, is this heart disease? can it be fixed? Do I have heart failure? Sorry for all the questions...but I need to know without any sugar coating or medical words. thanks so much for your time.

Migable provided a good link for you to learn about your bundle branch block. It is essentially one of the main branches that conveys the electricity from the top of your heart to the bottom of your heart is not functioning. The question is why? The answer might be because an area died or stopped functioning correctly because it is not getting enough blood supply due to blockages in your arteries.

Your cardiologist wants to find out if there are any critical blockages that might be responsible for this change. If there are the angiogram (a study) will become an angioplasty (fixing the problem) typically with a balloon and stent to maintain an opening inside the artery. By the way, this should also dramatically improve your chest pain symptoms.
See these links too:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/angiopl...
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/coronar...

I hope this helps. Good luck.

been there had that, twice. No problem. You will be fine. Watch what you eat and dont smoke. Live each day as if it were your last.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bundle-...

Cardiac caths are invasive forms of xrays of the heart. A catheter is inserted in the groin (usually) and a cardiologist is looking at an xray machine while inserting it. It will show exactly where and how much blockage there is. Sometimes they will do an angioplasty procedure (ptca-percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty) where they insert a balloon like catheter into the blockage and open the balloon to unblock the blockage. Stints are inserted sometimes to make sure that the blockage stays open. If for some reason the doctor cannot open it open heart surgery may be required if the blockages are too great for you to maintain your health and to prevent a heart attack in which the muscle will start dying off (become ischemic) After the procedure you will have a sandbag on the site of entry for a couple of hours until a good clot is developed so that you don't bleed profusely. Trust your doctor, it sounds like he/she wants to stay on top of your medical problem. Good Luck__

They could do an angioplasty. I am waiting for them to come up with APO Milano, which is the modified form of hdl that has been shown to unclog arteries with just injections. If they see blockage in the branched artery that would require open heart.

http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/riskfac...

or search Google for blockage in my bundle branches

The cardiac cath exam lets them get a good look at the blood vessels into the heart.

Ask your doctor to go through it with you again .