update

'Tis the season to unblock veins fa la la la la la la la la

Well the venous angioplasty went ok I believe.

I'm fine by the way. I'm not bedridden or in immense pain. In fact my biggest trial right now is Xander.

Because of the procedure I have to pump and dump my milk for 48 hours. The sedatives used and the dye they insert into my veins isn't exactly the best for a baby.

It's breaking my heart. He just wants his mother's snuggle and all I have for him is smelly formula...in a bottle. Not fun. I have never done the bottle thing. Wow- how inconvenient.

Xander won't take a bottle for longer than 3 minutes- so I defrosted some frozen breast milk- He still isn't taking it very well. This is so sad.

For those who are curious and want to know how the day went:

I get to the hospital and go to the Radiology department. I then get undressed and put scrubs bottoms and a gown top on. I get hooked up to an IV with saline (to help my kidneys push through the dye they insert into veins) they asked if I was pregnant. NO. Then I asked Dr. Black a million questions.

Dr. Black was honest and smart. He doesn't think YET that CCSVI (narrowing of jugular veins) is the WHOLE causing problem to MS but could be a factor. He thinks it plays a significant role and when it comes down to it, no matter what, my veins are abnormal and should be fixed.

ok so then they sedate me and make me jolly. They inserted a catheter in my iliac vein which is down by your pelvis low waste area. And then he fished the catheter through my veins until he reached my brain- I'm not joking. I jumped a little and said, "are you inside my head?" He was. He then releases the dye into my veins and asks me to hold my breath and such so the dye can make its way through my veins- so he can see how blood is flowing through my veins.

He discovered that my right jugular vein was 60% blocked. He even said that my body had compensated with a new sort of vein- something he has never seen before. See? We are all unique in our own different ways.

He also discovered my left jugular was 50% blocked.

Ok when he was messing around in my head and ballooning open my veins I about lost it. Pretty painful- like an instant horrific earache and migraine headache. But within 5 minutes it was gone. I could hear this little metal clicking inside my head too. So weird. There was a lot of pressure. Just a weird-finger-nails-on-a-chalk-board-type-feeling. The nurses and doctor were surprised by my pain saying most patients don't feel too much discomfort. Well the pain all went away as soon as he was done ballooning.

He later told me that he might want to re-do my right side down the road...he said he unblocked most of it but not completely- he stretched the vein a lot and wanted to be careful.

Afterwards I was given the prescription of Lovenox and Plavix. I have to give myself blood thinner shots for only a week. We picked up the medicine at Costco and all I have to say is "thank goodness for Chay's health care insurance" We only had to pay less than 10% of what the original costs were. phew!

How do I feel? Drum roll please!!!!! The same. :) A little loopy from the sedation. My veins in my neck are a little sore (oh really?) and also where the catheter entered into my iliac vein is a little sore. I also have a little bit of a headache. I'll just have to wait.

I'm drinking the green drink like crazy so I can flush out the dye and sedatives- I just really want to nurse Xander. I'm sure it will be a long night tonight.

So I will update again soon. Probably not tomorrow. I just want to focus on Christmas.

Fa la la la la la la la la