ER & Surgery

Ben goes in Monday for surgery to remove the wrist bump. Yesterday's artreiogram showed that the whole bump is on the arm & should be pretty simple to just "pop" out. We're not sure whether they will graft in a new piece of artery or will just tie off the open ends. And it's a day surgery so he won't have to stay overnight.

So that's all very good news. Of course, we got the joy of spending the night in the ER due to the arteriogram. Ben woke up at like 1:45 VERY sore & went to the bathroom. On his way back to bed he got VERY dizzy & I had to come help him. By the time I got to him he was not only dizzy but disoriented, short of breath, clammy & sweaty. Due to the risk of blood clot from the procedure, we called an ambulance.

After several hours & several tests of his heart later, they determined that he had a vasal reaction to the extreme pain & his blood pressure dropped WAY too low (like 90/60 or something crazy like that) causing all of the above symptoms. Basically he had an extreme fainting spell. No blood clot or any other seriously bad things. All is good now. He feels much better, but continues to be sore.

And we found out something interesting on the headache front yesterday. The nurse who helped with the arteriogram, suggested that he get his heart looked at. Apparently there can be a tiny hole in the heart which can lead to migraines or severe headaches by allowing blood to bypass the filter process of the lungs . It's a simple, minimally invasive surgery to fix.

So now we get to find a cardiologist & have them order the test. Yay, more doctors :)