I went through that with my Mama years & years ago, nurses were busy and I had to hold the pressure.............not a fun time at all, knowing if I let up, I could loose my Mama!!!You got'em Keebs....heart cath's aren't so bad, I've had 2 of them. Like Ruger said, better if through wrist than leg, but even the leg wasn't bad. Only thing I didn't like about the leg was it took longer to stop the bleeding. 2 nurses had to stand there for 15 mins compressing the opening in that artery to stop the bleeding before they even placed the super tight bandage over it. then I had to lay there even longer before they would let me leave.