My Follow-up Doppler Ultrasound - Tuesday, Sept.28

Well on Friday, I went for a 3-month follow-up doppler ultrasound in Barrie, Ontario.  The technician there said she was trained in Italy by Dr. Zamboni.

I have had 3 of those scans so far and she is the first to scan so far up behind the ears, but she only did this on one side?? She scanned both laying down and sitting up. She mentioned that everything was normal.

I told her that I think that I blocked back up. She said that it just takes time and be patient. She used the analogy that it is like someone with strep throat. If someone goes and gets antibiotics as soon as symptoms appear, it will heal a lot faster. If someone waits to long then the healing process will take a lot longer. She said that it even took Dr. Zamboni's wife many, many months to start feeling all the benefits.

When I asked her why I got so many benefits the first five weeks and lost some of them, I think she said that having the angioplasty was a shock to the system. Not sure but the body is like on a high from the new increased flow. I asked her if she thought that finishing the drug Plavix had anything to do with it since I was on that for 5 weeks, she said no. It was probably just coincidence but I should continue taking baby aspirin! She said it was important to keep moving!
 
While I was in the waiting room I met a lady who had the liberation procedure done by the same doctors in Poland that I had.  She was from Newfoundland and was in Barrie for her 1-month follow-up.  She met the two couples that went there from my home town.  Talk about a small world!!!

One of these couples was in the Cornwall Newspaper last week and I was also mentioned as the first person with MS going to Poland from Cornwall.  In the article they mention that I can now walk with just my cane which is true for walking around inside the house, but I still don't feel very confident yet walking outdoors.  I still prefer walking holding on to someone's arm or using my scooter or walker.  Here is a link to the article  http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2765581

Sept. 16 - 11 weeks post procedure

I have not updated my blog for 3 weeks now as I don't have any changes to report.  Last week I was having a lot of back pain but this week it is much better. Next Friday I have a follow-up appointment for a doppler ultrasound here in Canada at Barrie Vascular Imaging in Barrie, Ontario.  The couple I went to Poland with had their appointment last week and they found that both his jugulars were still flowing perfectly.  He also has seen marked improvement since his return from Poland were he had both jugulars ballooned.

Something interesting is that one of the ladies that I went to Poland with, had a second procedure done in California last week.  Since she had not felt any improvements from her trip to Poland, she sent her scans to a radiologist in her home state of California who is now treating CCSVI.  Here is a brief summary of her 2nd procedure 

"So my wife had her 2nd round yesterday, with Dr Arata.  RIJV 80% blocked, ballooned to 16mm (low pressure). LIJV stent seems to have migrated a tad in its first week, still stenosed rather badly, some 12mm high-pressure ballooning seemed to help there, but the flow was still slow. He checked her left sinusoid vein, nothing to fix. AZY had a pretty bad stenosis that he ballooned with 8mm and 10mm.  Heading to Hubbard for a follow-up scan at noon."

Waiting to hear how she is doing!

If anyone is interested and since there might not be such a long waiting list as Dr. Siskin in Albany NY, here is the information for Dr. Arata in California.  Michael Arata, Pacific Interventionalists (Newport Beach in Southern California). He's been doing veins for 20 years and May-Thurner for 10.  http://www.pacificinterventional.com/ (949) 221-0128 and 221-0129