vascular compressions: the waiting continued

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Met for supper with the fam to celebrate Tyson's birthday!

I left off last post with me waiting to get my venogram scheduled. Friday, March 15th, the Interventional Radiologist from Woodbury called me after 5pm as we were driving to New Ulm to meet up with my family. I had been long awaiting a call that week hoping to get my venogram scheduled BEFORE heading to Oklahoma City. Though it's been frustrating to say the least, he is such a thorough doctor and is compassionate. He had been able to review my CT scans two days prior, but hadn't had a chance to call me up until this point. He apologized more than once and it felt sincere. Based on what he saw he didn't think he'd need to address anything while doing the venogram and it will be purely diagnostic to rule things out. That could possibly be good news. I'm sometimes unsure if it would be better to have something actually wrong or not.

Since I had last talked with him I had an interesting experience to share with him. The prior Sunday morning I was experiencing an increase in leg pain. This happens occasionally and it's annoying. Otis had just been laid down for a nap and Ben had left to work at the Home & Builders show in town. Pain started creeping into my low back and pelvic area. Within 30 minutes I couldn't even stand up because the pain was so intense and sharp. I curled over like a hunchback and made my way to the tub to see if a hot bath would help. It did not and maneuvering my body any which way was truly agonizing. I got to my bed, couldn't lay flat on my back and adjusting to my side was excruciating but got into a tolerable position and eventually made my way to sleep. Thankfully the kids were at the neighbors and Otis didn't wake up until Ben got back home. I'm certain there was no way I would have been able to get him out of the crib or even hold him for that matter. It was honestly such a dumb day with not much improvement by the end of it. 

I did make it to the couch for some Violet snuggles

The next day I was able to get into the chiropractor and the day after that, acupuncture. I slowly got better after those adjustments and managed to work from home with the help of pain meds and heating pads. Funny story... I took a muscle relaxer, which made me much more sleepy than I anticipated. This  resulted in me messaging Kerstyn to take me to my chiro appointment since I was too out of it to drive (::face palm::). So maybe not my best decision. But it did allow me to send her a gif of Driving Miss Daisy. This all coincided with getting my period, which leads me to think it's somehow related to my compressions. I do have some pelvic congestion so I'm not sure if that's what set it off? It was such an intense experience. I shared this with the doctor and he didn't have any answers for me.

He brought up that my anatomy is weird (*gasp* How shocking!?) and I have a second left renal vein. I had read this on my CT scan report as well. He noted that the strange part is that one just goes straight to my illiac vein rather than to my vena cava. (The left renal vein supplies blood back to the heart. It also has three other veins that drain into it.) Typically when you have two they still both go to the inferior vena cava, but one is anterior and one is posterior.  So we are both curious to see what my venogram shows. 

We ended the call with him assuring me he'd get me in the following week before I left for my trip to OKC on Wednesday. I was cautiously optimistic...

Otis living his best life with puffs in hand

My cousin sent me this Instagram not too long ago and it's been quite the story to follow! She has multiple compressions (one being the left renal vein) and made the trek from England to Germany for surgery. I love her writing. It's simple, concise, and full of emotion. Check it out here:

https://www.instagram.com/thattillyrose


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