Finally an answer–Angioplasty at Siriraj Hospital

Sawadee Khrap

Well I may finally have my answer to what is needed.  I met with Dr. Nathawut ( Cardiologist, Instructor at the University) at Siriraj Hospital, BKK.

I left home at 12:30 to get to the bus station by 1:00 – ticket to Ekkamai – 2:10 – then we were hit by a massive thunder storm and that among other things delayed the bus till 3:10 – arrived at Ekkamai at 5PM and got into a taxi to go to Siriraj – driver took a route through town – hitting massive gridlock (should have gone around)  – arrived at Siriraj at 7:00, actual appointment was for 8PM  – safe so far, but no time for dinner.   And didn’t get back home till 11:30 PM – one hell of a long day.

When I got to the hospital – I was taken directly to see the doctor – He went over the supporting documents I had from the CAT scan done in Sriphat, Chiang Mai, which showed that I had 5 semi blocked arteries, 4 of which had no symptoms.    The ones going to my head and stomach weren’t causing problems now and the one to my left side (arm)  had developed new arteries for getting blood – so for now  – don’t do anything.  Trying to open them may cause more problems.   However, the blocked artery to the kidney could be the culprit raising my blood pressure. 

His prognosis is to preform a angioplasty on the kidney artery and see if correcting it will bring my blood pressure back to a normal range.  If this helps lower my BP then the medicines to control cholesterol and BP should be enough.  Estimated costs is now about 80,000 Baht + costs of extra stents if needed or if there are any complications – (US $ 2,500+)   within my budget.   He only preforms these operations on Sunday’ afternoons so they will call me and let me know a scheduled date and time –hopefully within the next 3 months.  Siriraj is a teaching university and general Gov’t hospital and therefore has a very large patient load. 

So oatmeal in the morning, 30 minute walk around the condo every morning and try to get another 30 min walk during the day – watch the diet and take my medicine and get on with life.

Excellent, what he wants to do is the least expensive, least invasive  – just get the job done – saving me from the private hospitals, who always want to protect their bottom line.  They’d be happy to work on all 5 potential stents areas  – and then handle complications if they arise.  Starting at 500,000 Baht  (US $ 15,600)

So if you need medical assistance – head straight to the Gov’t Teaching hospitals – Siriraj,  BKK or Sriphat, CM  —- these are the main and largest ones and get a diagnosis, estimated cost and time frame – unless of course you have Insurance – then by all means go to a facility like Bangkok Hospital or Bumrungrad International – ambience is better, service is excellent, technical quality is equal – errr  maybe -  What the hell – You can afford it.

Ciao