Hi,
The TEE (TransEsophageal Echocardiogram):
Friday, 9-10-2025. Essentially, they stuck a tube down my throat, slid some specialized equipment through the tube down into my esophagus in order to get an accurate picture of my heart. The esophagus runs directly behind the heart, and passes within a few millimeters of the left atrial chamber (where the Watchman device is planted). The equipment in the tube is a transducer that lets them perform an ultrasound right next to the left atrium of the heart. That’s why it’s called a transesophageal echocardiogram: a trans (through) esophageal (the esophagus) to do an echo (a reflection of sound), that produces a cardio (heart) gram (recording).
The Procedure:
We arrived at the hospital at noon (I had fasted since about 10:00 PM Thursday night). Before it happened, they did the usual pre-operative stuff, asked me a bunch of questions about my allergies, and my habits (if I smoke, drink, etc. — no and no). Then they put an IV in my arm to deliver the sedatives. When the doctor got there he verified my identity and my age, then asked me why I was there, and if I understood what the procedure was.
I said, “Yes, you’re going to stick a tube down my throat and take pictures of my heart so I can have an ablation and get a Watchman device implanted.
He said, “Good enough, let’s get started.”
He had me open my mouth wide and sprayed lidocaine into my throat three times. He had me gargle each time, and then swallow it. Then they knocked me out through the IV, probably using midazolam as the sedative. When I woke up, maybe 45 minutes later, it was done. They said it went very well. I didn’t feel brain dead like I sometimes do waking up from anesthesia, which was good. I wasn’t supposed to eat anything very hot or crunchy for a while because the lidocaine would still be active for a while and I could injure my throat if I wasn’t careful. It took us about 90 minutes to get home (rush hour traffic from the Med Center, up I-45 to Spring (30 miles or so). Minay drove, of course (I wasn’t allowed to.
Since I hadn’t eaten for about 18 hours, we stopped when we got off the freeway and got a milk shake for me. I sucked on that for about an hour and then had some grits and cottage cheese and ice cream for supper. I felt very little soreness in my throat. Swallowing the lidocaine was the worst of it.
The next post is about the ablation procedure itself. See you then.
Michael
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