Recent Misadventures, Part II

May 22 started at oh-dark-thirty, as usual, for the 6:30 blood draw. Fasting, you know, since I was scheduled for sedation at 10, and involving the patented Schultz family transportation nightmare. To wit: Marcie leaving Kitsap at dawn to pick me up to go get Sarah since Sarah doesn't have a car to go to the UW where Marcie will meet Neal who has his car so the two of them can roadtrip to Wyoming and Sarah can drive me home and stay with me and have the car for the week.

Phew.

Me: coffee-less. Stomach growly, with the two of them in the radiology waiting room. This room is slightly larger than my bed. (Not my bedroom, my bed.) And serves as the waiting room for about 400 different clinics. And people in there are not happy people -- mostly sleep deprived and food deprived, and worried. There are moms-to-be waiting for ultrasounds, people waiting for angiography, people waiting for MRI's and CT scans to tell them all sorts of scary things about what's in their body, and a tank of really forlorn fish.

The staff, however, are terrific. I have been there a LOT. I know. They are always friendly and efficient, and generally they operate on time. The only time I have had a bad time in radiology has been when I've been horribly ill (or recently surgeoned); and then it's all because of me. :-)

Anyhow, I was early, as always. When I've had CT's or ultrasounds, I have found that if I show up early, sometimes I can be seen early. So on this particular morning, we were in the waiting room by 9, and checked in, and waiting in what I wish was a quiet manner, but... well, that's hard for me and anyone from my corner of the genetic pool.

At about 9:15, a very nice lady in scrubs, hair cover, and raised mask joins the three of us in the waiting room, and -- all seats being occupied -- perches herself on the (tippy) occasional table, atop a pile of sudoku and crayons. She asks "I want to know what you think you are here for today."

This is not the question I was expecting. But I answered it anyhow: I think I am here for an angiogram, with possible angioplasty and a stent. EEEENNH. No points for me. The nice nurse points out that no, this is not a simple procedure and I need to have a clinic appointment with the dr. first to go over the procedure, risks, options, etc. Only today is not a clinic day and he is in a procedure, but since I am scheduled for the 10 a.m. time he can see me in his office.

?????

Now, I have no qualms about a dr. wanting to see me before he sticks large needles and catheters into my liver, but I have put my trust in the scheduling gods in the tx clinic, and have assumed that they communicate with other dr.s who will be doing procedures. Maybe they do. Maybe they don't. In this case, I was actually really pleased that the dr. was willing to be flexible to do an office visit on a procedures day, and to go through the process with me.

Plus I got the chance to get coffee and breakfast before meeting with him.

By 10:30 (they do run late, after all) Sarah and I were being escorted into the small windowless office in a bank of physician offices. Do these people get any benefits? I think it would be possible to be a staff member at that hospital and, during NW winters, not see the sun for months at a time. But I digress.

Dr. V was not what I expected. Let's just say that he has a name which would imply a particular ethnicity and a personage which belies that name. But after that initial "huh" moment, he is a nice nice gentleman. For instance, this is the first time that a dr. has brought up images of a CT or any other imagery of my myriad tests. I think it's just my failure to ask (they are all electronic and available to any dr.) but it was nice to have that as a starting point.

An aside: my new liver is smooth, and happy looking. Like the pictures you see in text books. I haven't yet seen a picture of my old liver; I will have to ask about that.

Dr. V explained the method for a percutaneous transhepatic angiogram -- which basically means they go through my skin right into my liver, and cross the liver till they get to the portal vein. There would be some pain - but not as much as possible because, well, I don't have any nerve endings in my new liver. I still do in the rest of my body, though! The dr. explained the possibilities of what could/would happen once inside - that the first attempt would be angioplasty (i.e., insertion of little balloons, then inflation) to clear the blockage in my vein. He discussed the possibility of a stent, which was later ix-nayed by Dr. H. He talked about the sedation and the effects of sedation (with which I am well accustomed). Then he handed me the patient release.

I think this is where I got myself in trouble. I actually read the release... Yeah, I know, I should have been reading all the fine print before, but skimming always proved that I had already received all the information verbally.

One clause elicited a "huh" from me: the statement that, due to the maneuvering of the catheter within my body, or due to the position in which my body would be placed during the procedure, it was possible that I would experience additional pain, like back pain. I allowed as to how every time I'd had procedures before, I had had residual pain in my upper back and sometimes shoulder, and that no doctor had ever really believed me... so I felt a little vindicated that this was actually stated with the angiography.

We arranged for an appointment the following Thursday, May 28.

Sarah and I played hooky the rest of the day, and it was an unexpected day, and it was fun. When the sun shines here it is so glorious, and when you have a borrowed little red car and a gracious niece, the world is good.