I reached the Radiology Dept. at Swedish Hospital around 7:15 AM and filled out a couple of forms, and then a nurse took me inside. I changed to a hospital gown and laid down on a bed. After the usual things a nurse does, an IV line was placed in my left arm. Then the doctor (an Interventional Neuro-Radiologist to be specific) stopped by and explained the risks associated with the angio (risk of a stroke if the catheter were to loosen up any plaque in my artery, allergic reaction to the contrast agent etc.) and asked if I wanted to proceed. I was is no mood to say no to all the fun and poking.
Then the nurse rolled my bed into an angio suite (image below) and 2 others joined the fun (i think one of them was a radiology nurse). The 3 of them moved me from my bed and on to the fluoroscopy table. And they started prepping me - hooked me up to a few things including oxygen supply, BP monitor, EEG and put a sterile sheet over me. The whole crew was super nice and let me take a few selfies.
Then the doctor came in. (Nurse took my phone away :( )He first sedated me using the IV in my arm. It was conscious sedation, so I was awake but very relaxed. And then he injected something in my right inner thigh for local anesthesia. Ayyy.., now I was all set for the real poking.
According the report I read later, a catheter was inserted into my body through my right femoral artery in my thigh. And he pushed the catheter all the way through my abdomen, chest, and neck to the bottom of my brain. Then, he injected a radio-opaque contrasting agent through an artery and took a lot of images. According to the report, it looks he repeated the whole process for 5 more arteries that supplied blood to my brain.
He was done in about 45 minutes and bandaged my thigh and then I was rolled to a room in another building around 10 AM for some rest. I watched the 1998 version of the Godzilla movie. It was an awful movie, but hey, its a hospital.
The doctor stopped by around 1 PM and gave me a sneak peek at the angio report, but I will talk about it more after I meet with the surgeon next week.
My friend came up to my room around 3:30 PM to pick me up.
Now comes the part I hate the most: Waiting..... to hear my prognosis and especially if it is treatable or not.
