From the Heart- Clinic Visit With the Vascular Surgeon + Next Step
Hi everyone! Today's post is my first medical post of 2019, so let's get started!
First of all, I think I should give y'all some context behind these kinds of posts as it's been a while since I've done one. (To read the last medical update, click here.) I was born with a complex heart defect whose abbreviated name is HLHS. Essentially, I was born without a left ventricle and as such, I essentially have a two-chambered heart. In God's mercy, I was able to have a series of surgeries that made life with this condition possible and that has allowed me to live an overall healthy, normal life.
But since my heart has to work hard to pump blood throughout my body, things happen. And one of the things that have happened is that in my right leg, veins have gotten partially blocked which means that this leg is not getting good blood circulation. Thankfully, this is a non-life threatening problem that can be dealt with by means of vascular surgery, in which the surgeon inserts stents to open up the blocked veins. I had this type of surgery done back in August 2018 (to read about that, see this post.) While the stent insertions that I received during that surgery helped some, more surgery for this vein blockage in my leg must be done. This is because veins are delicate and those that are blocked cannot be totally opened at one time because this could harm them.
This leads me to the purpose of this post: to tell you about my visit to the clinic to see the vascular surgeon who will be adding more stents into this blocked vein in my leg in the near future. Praise God, the appointment went well 🙌! The surgeon definitely noticed the physical symptoms exhibited by my right leg as a result of the vein blockage. He said that walking is good because it helps the veins to squeeze the blood back to the heart. He also said that in terms of this upcoming vascular surgery, he's planning on continuing to work on dealing with the vein blockage in my right leg with more stenting. Also, this time around for surgery, I'll be having TIVA, which basically means that all anesthetic drugs will be administered to me via an IV instead of being inhaled. We think that the inhaled gases along with a type of drug called narcotics were the culprits of the nausea and vomiting that occurred in my recovery from this surgery last time. Ultimately, it is God who helps me and not medicine, but I hope and pray that he will use this new anesthesia method to protect my stomach from getting upset. Also, this TIVA is apparently not general anesthesia; the vascular surgeon said that it is a form of sedation. However, I should be clear that I will be asleep for this next vascular surgery. Recovery shouldn't be more than last time, as the first surgery I think is always the most intense in terms of what the surgeon does, which means that I'll probably be able to come home from the hospital the next morning and be able to do go back to doing some exercise a few days later. So I'll let y'all know how the surgery goes after it happens!
Also, quick update. It turns out that by God's mercy, my pacemaker is working great and doing what it's supposed to do 🙌!
That's all for now. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram! I look forward to posting again on Monday 😊.
First of all, I think I should give y'all some context behind these kinds of posts as it's been a while since I've done one. (To read the last medical update, click here.) I was born with a complex heart defect whose abbreviated name is HLHS. Essentially, I was born without a left ventricle and as such, I essentially have a two-chambered heart. In God's mercy, I was able to have a series of surgeries that made life with this condition possible and that has allowed me to live an overall healthy, normal life.
But since my heart has to work hard to pump blood throughout my body, things happen. And one of the things that have happened is that in my right leg, veins have gotten partially blocked which means that this leg is not getting good blood circulation. Thankfully, this is a non-life threatening problem that can be dealt with by means of vascular surgery, in which the surgeon inserts stents to open up the blocked veins. I had this type of surgery done back in August 2018 (to read about that, see this post.) While the stent insertions that I received during that surgery helped some, more surgery for this vein blockage in my leg must be done. This is because veins are delicate and those that are blocked cannot be totally opened at one time because this could harm them.
This leads me to the purpose of this post: to tell you about my visit to the clinic to see the vascular surgeon who will be adding more stents into this blocked vein in my leg in the near future. Praise God, the appointment went well 🙌! The surgeon definitely noticed the physical symptoms exhibited by my right leg as a result of the vein blockage. He said that walking is good because it helps the veins to squeeze the blood back to the heart. He also said that in terms of this upcoming vascular surgery, he's planning on continuing to work on dealing with the vein blockage in my right leg with more stenting. Also, this time around for surgery, I'll be having TIVA, which basically means that all anesthetic drugs will be administered to me via an IV instead of being inhaled. We think that the inhaled gases along with a type of drug called narcotics were the culprits of the nausea and vomiting that occurred in my recovery from this surgery last time. Ultimately, it is God who helps me and not medicine, but I hope and pray that he will use this new anesthesia method to protect my stomach from getting upset. Also, this TIVA is apparently not general anesthesia; the vascular surgeon said that it is a form of sedation. However, I should be clear that I will be asleep for this next vascular surgery. Recovery shouldn't be more than last time, as the first surgery I think is always the most intense in terms of what the surgeon does, which means that I'll probably be able to come home from the hospital the next morning and be able to do go back to doing some exercise a few days later. So I'll let y'all know how the surgery goes after it happens!
Also, quick update. It turns out that by God's mercy, my pacemaker is working great and doing what it's supposed to do 🙌!
That's all for now. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram! I look forward to posting again on Monday 😊.
Hi Lily. Thanks for this health update as it will direct us how we can be praying for you. FYI … Lori is preparing your pork chile verde for dinner this evening!
ReplyDeleteHi Uncle Jim! I appreciate your prayers. I would love to know what you all think about the chile verde :).
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