Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Plugged In!


Landing in N.Y


My CCSVI trip started on thursday February the 10th. The flight up to Albany NY seemed quick. I was anxious to get up there and get checked in. We decided to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Albany Medical Center. It's attached to the hospital by a glass walkway which leads directly to outpatient check in. A brief walk through some double doors, a left, a right and you are at the elevator to radiology. Max maybe a block from my room. 

Albany Medical Center and the hotel.


The night went pretty quick, however every minute that went by the more nervous I got. Keep your expectations in check, Dave, not too high, not too low. Everyone wants to have all their symptoms gone. You want to expect that to happen. You want to start thinking and planning. I forced myself to stay grounded, limiting what I expected, remembering in the back of my mind there is NO Plan B.

Hotel Room



  I woke up early. I have to tell you this hotel has the worst clock ever made. It was 2 hours and 10 minutes off, and after 4 of us looked at it, no one could figure out how to change the time. Guess what, you can't. Anne called the desk and without a Phillips head screw driver it's not happening. Fortunately no alarm clock needed. OK, clock rant over. Took a shower and was ready ohhh about an hour and a half early.

Finally it was time to go. My nerves were up there but little did I know I was heading to a new level of nervousness. A place I had never been before. This is it! 7 months of waiting, planning and preparation all down to the next 4 or 5 hours. My life may or not be changing. My wife's life, my family's, friends'. My head started swirling with all the best and worse case scenarios. Dave snap to it, move ahead. I was not at all prepared for what I was going to be going through. 

Check in was quick and easy. Then wait to be called. Ahhh the waiting...what's a little more after all this time. Then there it was....Dave... Time to go, off to prep and get my stylish gown. The nurses immediately started busting on me. We need to exchange that gown for a longer one. When they held it up against me and measured it, it didn't cover much below the waist. Definitely need a longer one. 6'4" has its drawback. So off with the clothes and into the gown. IV plugged in, blood pressure (surprisingly decent), questions about eating and then the Quality of Life questionnaire. Whew....got it all done. OK they will be here soon....enter nerves and I mean nerves. All your thoughts are amplified by 100. It seemed I was quiet a bit of the time. Thinking, worrying, hoping, scared, excited, all those feelings were swirling around.

Finally after about 20 minutes the (what I will call) anesthesiologist came to pick me up. Not really sure of her title as she seemed to be a jack of all trades once we got in the room.  After a warning on how cold the room was, off we went. Once inside I had to hop over to the main table. Again with the tall jokes. Should we leave his head or his feet off the end of the table? They added some attachments to the tables to put my arms in. On went the blood pressure monitor, electrodes on my chest and above my groin, and then...the drugs started. Only thing left for prep was the "groin". I have to say this really is no big deal, even less of a deal once the drugs start hitting you. I would however like to suggest they actually shave where they are going to going in. In my case they shaved me for no reason. Then came one of the worse parts for me. Straps...across the legs, across the upper body. I felt like Boris Karloff back in the day. Being tied to the table was unsettling. Some final balancing of the drugs and I was set to go. I was talking a mile a minute. They asked questions and I kept on rambling. This part lasted about 5 or 10 minutes. Then I was told I needed to be quiet.....lol. Shut it so we can work, please.

You may feel a small pinch in your groin....it was very small actually, hardly noticed. I guess the other meds had me in a state where the local for the catheter was nothing. From that point on I didn't feel a thing. No pain, no pressure, nothing. The monitors were up and running and time seemed to fly by. People working, talking and I was asked to breathe certain ways at times and that was about it. I remember having to move or arch a certain way as well. Seems that just as things got going it was over. Now, I was in there for a about an hour and a forty five minutes. So don't get the idea it was a 5 minute procedure. Everything got unhooked, pressure on the groin area where they went in. One of my bigger concerns was bleeding from the groin after, but it was never an issue. Back in the recovery area the drugs started wearing off almost immediately. It was slow but noticeable. Anne said I was a little dreamy. 

Dr. Siskin with me 2 hours post procedure.

Recovery was pretty basic. One hour laying down followed by one hour sitting up, with the nurse checking for bleeding every 15 minutes. Then eating, drinking...food was ummm, well, terrible. Ate what I thought I had to, to get out of there and that was it. Dr. Siskin came in, we talked briefly about the procedure and that was it. Get dressed you are all set to go.

So what did Dr Siskin find and what was treated. Both jugulars were blocked, the right worse than the left. The azygous vein was fine. I'm sorry I don't have the percentages, I forgot to ask. I should have all the records and reports next week. I have to take one 325mg aspirin for the next 3 months. Tylenol was recommended for any discomfort. The night of treatment my groin and my neck (on both sides) were sore. Other than that I was in good shape.

At the recovery area I decided for that day and night I didn't really want to evaluate myself a lot. I was told right away the grey complexion I had was gone. My head seemed clear but as you can imagine I was a bit tired. Not fatigued but tired. My thoughts seemed to flow well. There was no searching for words or pausing to think before talking. We went out to eat at the hotel and it was smooth sailing. Yes..I admit it.....I HAD dessert....it was damn good too.

The morning after was amazing from the start. Because of the intense day we went to bed fairly early. I woke up at 5am. To say I was different would be an understatement. I pushed Anne... I am wide awake... I can't sit still... I'm getting up. I was bursting with energy. I was plugged in to the world again. Charged with life. All these thoughts raced around. We need to do this, call him, go here. It was an unbelievable change from just 24 hours ago.  Needless to say I had plenty of time to get ready for my follow up ultrasound at 10. What a great day.

The follow up ultrasound was the same as the original. No change, all the measurements sitting up and then laying down. I guess this will now be the stressful part of things. Has there been a change? Has anything closed up. I will say this, if things do take a turn, I will be right back on the table. There is no debating that.

I spoke with a friend back in North Carolina over the phone and he commented that he could tell just by my speech that things had changed for me. Amazing what others are picking up that I don't even see.

Heading up to the Adirondacks

The rest of the day was breakfast out, shopping and running around a bit. Not too much sitting until the afternoon. All in all it was a mistake to walk so much. I was feeling so good I didn't really pay attention to things and by 1-2 my groin started to flare up and get sore. My neck discomfort was not too bad.  Anne and I decided to drive another 60 miles north to see some friends and stay over night. Back up into the Adirondack mountains where we use to live. Always nice to go back up there. The Adirondacks are special. There were a few things I had completely forgotten. Like the pot holes and heaving roads in the winter. What a mess. I was pretty uncomfortable with soreness, but I kept up all day. While tired from everything, it was not fatigue tired and my head was clear. 

The next morning I awoke, bright eyed, thinking, and once again no running to the coffee pot to try and wake up. I was plugged in from the start. The morning went great and we decided to head out for breakfast. Shower, change of clothes etc. As I got ready something very strange happened. I was standing there brushing my teeth thinking, this is fun... brushing my teeth is FUN! It's hard to explain but things like this were such an effort and such a drain for me. Anne must have thought I was nuts running out of the bathroom talking about how great it was brushing my teeth. We had another great day with friends. The rest of the time in NY was much of the same, but I can't say this enough: I was plugged in with a CLEAR head.

Now that I am home I am sure I will pick up on all sorts of "toothbrush moments" and I can't wait to feel and see it all.  

The one thing I haven't mentioned in this recap is my optic neuritis. It appears to me that I am regaining a bit of vision. The distances I was having focus issues with have become fewer. I don't have that tired eye anymore. Maybe this is something that will take some time. I can tell you this however, after three years of severe heat intolerance I went in the jacuzzi tub today. I soaked in the heat and epsom salts. No ill effects, no eye issues, no fatigue, nothing but the enjoyment of the jacuzzi. I can't wait for what's next and where tomorrow leads me.

Please, if you have MS take a serious look at CCSVI. Get tested and get treated. It will be the best thing you have ever done to help yourself.


6 comments:

  1. WOW, congratulations Dave. Your story was touching and got choked up there especially where you were nervous for know I would be...I wanted to ask you what changes for the better do you see? Did you have cold hands & feet before? Are they warm now? Did you have a walking alment where as to now is better? What changes for the better are you experiencng that you couldn't before?
    Thanks for sharing. I haven't even gotton tested to see if I even have stenosis...I am thinking about it. My friend has MS too and I was telling her about CCSVI and she recently told me that she heard someone in Mexico that went to do the procedure died. That scared me. Have you heard of such a case happening? I live in Greece and found out that in Athens they do the proceduce for 4,500 Euros which isn't a big amount at all. I'm just not sure. So now I just haven't done much about going to get tested. Your story definitely s a postive influence and will start looking into everything a little more serious.
    God Bless :)
    Elle

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  2. So happy for you - I remember all those firsts and being plugged in again. Dr. Siskin is awesome isn't he?!

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  3. Thanks Dave, Great read!
    It sounds like we had similar experiences and on the same day! Except I was on the west coast :-)
    Wishing you happy healing and many more "toothbrush moments". Cheers!

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  4. Congratulations! Hope things keep getting better for you.

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  5. I recently came across your blog and have been reading along.

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