Day 2 & 3
Which is really Day 1 after my procedure.
We were picked up at 8am and all 6 of us arrived at the hospital. We saw the others from the previous day leaving. We were quickly split up into 2 rooms and poked and prodded to get the blood tests right away. Once that was done we were put into our own bed to wait for the Doppler. Before the Doppler, a neurologist stopped by interviewed and examined all of us. Then Dr. Simka came by each of us and did the Doppler. I found out that my left jugular was OK, but my right had problems and they would find out more once I was in getting my procedure done.
Once in beds, they hooked us all up to an IV and gave all of the women catheters. Then we had to wait. I was last of the 6 to be liberated!
I thought going in I would need 3 stents since my MS is so bad. Turns out my left and azygos veins where clear and didn't need anything. My right jugular was restricted and they did the balloon angioplasty on it. They used a 12 x 40mm balloon what ever that means... The angioplasty held very well on the first try so they didn't need to put a stent in. The operating room was incredibly high-tech!
Once it was over we were moved back to the beds for the rest of the night. 6 hours later, we all got some dinner. After the procedure I was having a heart arrhythmia (irregular heart beat) and was hooked up to a monitor and given some drugs by a cardiologist who came by to look at me. They seemed to make me feel quite ill and I couldn't eat any of my dinner. It did look quite though, perogies, meat, cheese, and some bread. Once done, it was lights out.
The night was difficult as I was not feeling well. Unfortunately most of the nursing staff did not speak any English so I couldn't explain what was wrong with me or what was going on. Even though we couldn't communicate, they were still very nice and comforting and managed to find someone that spoke a little or at least new the word vomit! They have me an injection of something and it sure made me feel better. The doctors speak English, just not the night nurses so it would have been good to have some Polish for things like nurse, headache, sick, vomit, etc.
No one really got much sleep. You have to sleep on your back only and they wrap a band around your legs where the incision was so I was uncomfortable. Rough night but I made it through. The drivers showed up at 8am to take us back to the hotel. Once back, I grabbed a bit of breakfast and headed up to my room to write this and relax. I feel much better now and am looking forward to going out for some fresh air in a bit.
How I Feel:
First off, I felt disappointed with only one ballooning and no stents thinking it should be more. I thought it would be a miraculous cure and I would feel way better instantly. The doctor told us it would take 3-6 months for changes to really happen.
Already there has been some good signs. At night in the hospital I was complaining that my feet were hot. When they took my socks off my feet were warm and pink instead of cold and purple as usual! Since the procedure I have been warm/hot all the time which is not "normal" as I am always freezing cold, even my hands are warm. I even wanted to buy a big parka before the procedure and now I definitely won't need to! Also, I was able to fire up my electric toothbrush on my own this morning which I couldn't do before. Some little improvements, but I have hope that things will continue to get better over time.
More updates to come!
Esta
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