Angioplasty is so COOL!

Thanks to Dennis for keeping up on the posts so everyone stays informed. I have reached a milestone - the halfway point - and a lot has been going on. First and foremost, as you know the PET scan was clean, clean, clean! Woohoo! An early Christmas present for me! My "moment" was spoiled a bit, though, by the fact that my right arm was freakishly swollen because of a blood clot that needed surgery. Yup, I got hung up on that one little word - SURGERY. Just mention that word to me and I start work on building up that molehill. I arrived at the hospital this morning in full nose sweats, feet sweats, shaking, and chattering. It's completely involuntary and has certainly gotten worse the more "medical time" I accrue. Shouldn't it be the opposite? I think of Duane, Morgan, and Jennifer and all the surgeries, transplants, infusions, etc. that they've been through and am embarrassed that simple angioplasty freaks me out.

Now that I know, I can say angioplasty is a very cool procedure that really is simple. My procedure was in a vein which is your low pressure system not an artery which is more serious. He went in on my right arm fairly close to the port which made snaking the catheter to the problem area quick. For my comfort, they put on some KT Tunstall and my nurse gave me a sedative (aahh). I got another dose before he started ballooning, but I was awake. remember all of it, and I am glad. It was so cool to watch the screen and see what was happening inside of me. They injected contrast in my port and I watched it instantly branch out into all the little veins. Dr. Comyn inserted the catheter, I felt it, and automatically said "ouch!". He asked, "Do you really mean ouch or do you just mean weird?" He moved the catheter again. "Oh, I just mean weird," I confessed. He also stripped my port's catheter while he was in there. He used a lasso tool called a snare, ran it up and down the tube, picked it up and moved it all around. Then the test. The nurse injected another shot of contrast in the port and it went in a straight stream this time to the heart. Success!!!! The vein was no longer blocked. More weird as the catheter exited my vein, and I was done. Piece of cake!

My arm is still swollen, but the coloring looks better. It will take awhile to drain the arm of all the blood and fluid. Tomorrow I have chemo and we'll figure out the blood thinner thing. For now I am still sticking myself in the stomach, but this cannot continue or else I will go broke. Sounds like Coumadin is more reasonable. I am also Ativan-ing before going to chemo. One more hurdle before I can thoroughly enjoy Christmas with my family. I can't wait. I won't be posting until after Christmas, so Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night.