vascular compressions: post-angiogram
Dr. Warren has just told me that I have severe MALS. I have very little comprehension of this other than hearing what she said. I was feeling a bit distracted about how cold I was. I started shaking, teeth chattering. It was wild. As the nurses wheeled me away they kept telling me they’d get me warm soon. I got to the room and someone brought in a Bair Paws. I had never heard of it. But it’s a little machine that blows out warm air. So they just put the hose under the blankets and voila! I am warm again.
A nurse is there working on taking out my IV and the catheter in my right arm for the angiogram. After he takes the catheter out of my arm he has to put pressure on it for 15-20 minutes to make sure it clots properly. It is then that I find out there are restrictions with my arm. I knew going into this that people's arm was a bit sore and bruised after. Sometimes they go through the groin rather than the arm (I'm thankful my arm worked out). But I did not realize I wouldn't be able to bend my wrist for 24 hours or lift much of anything for three days. He attaches a board to my arm to remind me to not bend my arm. This is good actually as it would be really challenging otherwise to not accidently bend it. He gives us a pretty in-depth spiel on things that could go wrong. This is a sure-fire scare tactic! I make sure to read my sheet a few times.
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| He temporarily put the board on the top of my arm until I was done eating. Before I leave he moves it to the underside. |
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| There's the catheter that was in my artery. We were fascinated by this. |
I'm given food, Ben thinks he should feed me since I can't use my right arm. I entertain a few bites, but am then just attempting to do anything with my left arm that I can. Honestly, I have lots of practice since I carry babies on my right hip. While all this is going on Dr. Warren is there for part of it discussing the angiogram with me. Ben has my notebook to ask questions. She explains and shows us a video of how my celiac artery does a complete 180 when I exhale. MALS patients commonly have what's known as a "J-hook". So if you just envision the artery curving like a "J". Well I guess mine overachieves and practically just bends in half. More like a smashed "V" I suppose. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to go too deep into the medical piece of things. I will do this on my follow-up call with her after my venogram. We mostly discussed some of the surgery logistics, hospital stay, and recovery.
Dr. Warren tells me I’m an “old” MALS patient explaining that many of her patients dealing with this are early 20s and younger. But noted that 20 years ago no one would haven known what this was or even believed me. I remember having some episodes when I was younger. The most notable one I was 19 and I missed a few days of work from the abdominal pain I was in. I went to the doctor and was told it was just constipation. The fix was to eat better and exercise. These types of situations would continue on for years getting worse as time passed. I never understood why I was a fast eater until these past months when I would catch myself doing it because I had a moment of hunger and I would rush before the pain started. This is a bad habit as eating fast doesn't do me any favors either. But it makes sense now! I think I've made it this long because of all the changes I've made to better my health along the way. I've also changed my diet more times than I can count and would usually land on a few foods I could tolerate temporarily. Sadly, even though I'm older, it’s still so rare and hard to get care. I'm in a MALS group on FB and it's full of people from all over the world, all different ages. Some are now in their 70s and have just gotten surgery. My point is, there are a lot of people out there still searching for answers.
Dr. Warren also took time to talk to Violet and give her some reassurance. We appreciated that. Violet didn't say anything in response. But she appeared to take in what she said.
Once I'm changed back into my clothes they have me hop in a wheelchair while Ben brings the car around and we bust outta there. It's a rainy and gloomy day outside. So we weren't missing any sort of fabulous weather. My only request is to stop for coffee ASAP before we drive back to the hotel. Violet is fully on board with my coffee addiction as it's benefiting her nicely on this trip as well. I'm going to be honest here for a sec. A majority of the time, coffee doesn't even taste the same to me anymore, nor does it feel all that wonderful after I drink it. But nothing does at this point. And it's just one of those little things that I won't give up, because I've already given up so much. So to me it's more than a cup of coffee.
We get me settled in bed at the hotel. The pain has fully set in by this point and I'm miserable and starting to radiate crabbiness. I hate it. My arm aches all the way up to my shoulder. It actually reminded me of the times I broke my arm. After the adrenaline wears off there's this deep ache that sets in beyond just where the injury is. Ben and Violet have plans to adventure. So they go off and do that while I attempt to rest. It occurs to me at that point how many things I use my arm for, like typing. I had intentions of writing a post after, but that wasn't going to happen anymore. Thank goodness I hadn't planned on working the next day! I could voice text, but that's just not really my thing. I do it a bit to text a few family/friends, but then I'm kind of just angry and don't want to talk to anyone. Sleep also doesn't find me, because the drugs they use on me do weird things to my body and my brain won't shut off. After Ben and Violet return I have Ben go with me to the lobby to heat up my cinnamon roll (which I now realize is mentioned in the blog post before this so you don't know what I'm talking about). As expected, it's delicious on intake.
The rest of the night is a blur. Ben and Violet go back out for supper. They take an umbrella and Ben takes cute photos of Violet in the rain. More than anything I look forward to sleeping so I can start fresh the next day. Other than lying awake for an hour or so around 4am, I sleep pretty well considering. The whole arm on a board thing makes for awkward positioning since I typically sleep all curled up with my arm tucked into me.
It's now Friday, March 22nd! We get on the road and head to TEXAS! First stop, Waco :) The drive is long enough. I do get a call that morning to schedule my venogram as promised. It will be April 5th (which we already know since today is April 7th ;) Hop to the next post to read about the rest of our trip...
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| Got our breakfast, ready to go! |
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