[StephN]

Hello dear group -
Here is my report on unclogging my vena cava.
My day on Tuesday was rather messed up, but they did get to me in the end.

I checked in at 8am for a 10am procedure. Well, the desk said they had me down for 10am check in and 12 noon procedure. I said "whatever" and would chill with my book.

Time went by and they moved me from the 4 person day patient room to a two person room. Then my doctor's nurse practioner showed up at about 1:30 to tell me that a very complicated emergency case had been brought in and the team elected to work on that lady before me. Plus the case in front of me had taken longer than expected. About 4:30 the nurse came back and said they were STILL working on that lady who had 6 badly clotted veins in her legs, but would bring me down momentarily to begin the prep process.

(It is beyond me how someone can be SO bad off that they are not treated somehow, somewhere and only come to emergency when it is life or death time.)

When my doctor came in he said, "You have been the subject of much discussion around here." Well, THAT got my attention. My case had been discussed in two department conferences. The prevailing wisdom was to try to get a wire past the clot in my vena cava and open it up without taking out my port-a-catheter. THEN, if that failed they would pull my port and try the balloon again.

Fortunately our Good Lord heard all the fervent prayers and the balloon procedure did finally work. They went in via my right internal jugular and were able to get my vein open without needing a stent. My symptoms are already getting better. My surface veins on my abdoman have not miraculously disappeared as Joan's did, but are much better looking.

My roommate for overnight was an overweight 51-year-old lady who had the lap band procedure. She was up using the bathroom by dawn and wanting a shower! She had 5 little bandages on her abdoman and very little pain. We chatted a lot while waiting for our rides home.

Went to the cancer center yesterday for my usual Herceptin and my nurses were all very happy to see me looking better and able to keep my port.

My vascular surgeon will monitor me for any return of symptoms and gave me PLAVIX to take to keep my platelets from closing the area he worked on. Hope that will work! This may be a somewhat temporary measure, but at least I am under the care of another top doc.