Pre-op doctor visits 2/26/10

We met with the surgeon, Dr. Neville. He is a straight shooter, no b.s. about him. He told us that he is going to go in and look, and balloon anything he sees as a problem. He is going to be conservative which is fine. I certainly don't want to be the first patient he sees for this if he was planning on being too aggressive! We are not going to use stents at this time. That is somewhat of a relief because stenting veins is more risky, although possibly necessary, than stenting arteries. In time we will know much more, as other doctors are doing this procedure with stents and will hopefully be publishing their findings.


Then I had lots of blood taken in preparation for the procedure. There was a debate if it was actually necessary for me to spend the night at the hospital. He decided that since I was the first, it couldn't hurt. He said that for future patients he probably would not keep them overnight. Again, not the Ritz, but one night never hurt anyone.

We ended the day on a high note in the office of Dr. Tornatore, my neurologist. To say that I adore this man is an understatement. He is brilliant, open-minded, and spends an hour at a time with us at every appointment. What's not to love?

He is excited about Wednesday, and is going to try to work his schedule around it so that he can be there! We decided that I would not go on any MS drugs post-op and see what this is going to do for me.

Based on recent presentations of other docs who have done this procedure (if you care to, see here), the most immediate improvements in most patients are: warmer fingers and toes (yeah!), less fatigue, less "brain fog", and better heat tolerance. Walking and balance may take longer to show improvement, or not. We will just have to wait and see! From reports of other patients, I am prepared to take two steps forward, and one step back. There is a lot of readjustment my body will be going through as it gets used to my new normal.

It turns out that I did not get to be the first one to have this just based on good timing. Dr. T actually hand picked me! He went on about me being intelligent, blah, blah. Regardless, I feel even luckier knowing that he thinks that I am a great first candidate.

[I am editing the above statement. Although Dr. T told me that he had picked me to go first, I now realize how silly that is. I got the scrip for the venogram from Erica (my nurse) before she even knew that she had my US results on her desk. He probably meant that he was pleased to see that I was first because I am a good candidate, what with my purple feet (an indication of poor blood circulation and a common symptom in many of us MSers, and high ultrasound reflux numbers and all!]

Bottom line: I am confident that I am in very capable hands. I am excited for this procedure. And I can't wait to come out the other end and see what happens. The most important outcome will be stopping this damn disease from progressing. Of course, that is the one outcome that will take the longest to know about. Any actual improvements of my symptoms that I get will be delicious icing. And you know how I like sweets!