No AVM

Yesterday, I had the cranial arteriogram done. It wasn't that bad. They said that I would be consciously sedated and not remember anything...yeah, I remember EVERYTHING. Go me. The whole catheter in the groin was a ton of fun. The contrast (dye)was even better- it made my brain hot and crampy. Then, when it was all done, the doctor had to keep pressure on the incision site for over 10 minutes. I was sore last night from all the mashing with pressure. When I got back up to my room, I developed a migraine. I was given some tylenol (not sure if it had codeine or not, but I was asleep the rest of the day). Sleeping everything off helped ease the nuisance of having to lay completely flat for 8 hours.

So, the good news is that they did not find an AVM. AVM's can be very serious and dangerous. They did find that I have narrow vessels transporting blood and I hear the "turbulence" of the blood flow. Well, I have known that it is blood flow that I am hearing, so that was nothing new. What we do about it now is up to the ENT again. I have no clue as to what he will recommend. It will likely be a "live with it" situation. So, while it is good that there isn't an AVM- if it was, at least there would have been treatment options.

Thank you for the prayers about the procedure, for my job, and for Olivia & Karen. It means so much to me. Olivia's seizure medicine was increased yesterday, but before anyone gets too excited...seizure meds have some nasty side effects that include respiratory distress among other things. It's like fixing a problem to create another, but everything is done day by day. Please continue to pray for sweet Olivia.

Photo courtesy of Anne Grant Photography