The title of this entry is the last piece of advice my new neuroradiologist interventionist gave me at the end of our meeting today. He knows Dr. D…and he smiled when I mentioned that he was the one who told me to seek treatment for my weird headache-y symptoms a couple of months ago.
I was seeing this new doctor at the referral of my vascular surgeon (who was also the one who Dr. D put in the calls to while I was in the ER). I was already in the waiting room when he came into the office. He looked at me and said he thought that I might be the person he was going to see next and I asked if he was Dr. Neuro and he said yes…and told me to hold on a minute while he pulled up my “pictures”.
Five minutes later, he brought me back into his office where he had about five screens with CTA images of my head and neck, showing me where the dissection was in my carotid artery and also where the pseudoaneurysm was. [sidenote: he did it so quickly I didn’t really get to see exactly what he was talking about, but no matter…I’ll tell you why in a minute]
We then had a discussion where I told my story one more time to yet another doctor, trying to stick to the basics and the facts, but of course I got to the point where I’d talked with Dr. D and he gave me a little grin. I actually love that these doctors are buds because I feel like they are taking such good care of me.
In the end, Dr. Neuro told me that we will monitor the pseudoaneurysm. I’m to come back in 90 days so that I can get another CTA scan and if it is getting smaller or going away, we can celebrate. If it remains unchanged, we’ll continue to monitor it. And if it is growing, then he will “fix” it for me (i.e. place a stent in that part of my carotid artery so that the aneurysm part essentially gets cut off, ending the risk of a blood clot causing a stroke in that location).
I told him of my anxiety and he told me that he totally understood, but also said that I’ve done so much research that I’ve pretty much driven myself to the brink of insanity with all of my worry and anxiety.
So the bottom line is, I’m as fine as I can be right now. I can fly next week on my business trip with no problem (which was my BIG worry this week). I am not going to have a stroke while I’m on these blood thinners. I can even exercise as long as I don’t become a weight lifter or take my heart rate into the “red zone” (for all you Orangetheory-ers out there - basically no higher than around 130 BPM)
I can have my life back!!!
But I do need to stay away from doctors. Heh.
With love and relief,
GS
Loading comments...