Just got discharged from attempt #9, and suffice it to say it didn't work. Dr Stone at Mayo Clinic thought it might be a longshot to clear my clot and install a covered/lined stent. Turns out it was. I flew commercially to Phoenix and stayed the night on Wednesday. Thursday morning I rolled into the interventional radiology unit for insertion of another course of TPA similar to what we did in hospital back in February. The difference was the catheter used also had a ultrasound built into it and the theory was the TPA and ultrasound combined would knock out the clot, giving a clear path for the stent within a stent.
This morning, after a long night laying still so as to not disrupt the catheter, I got into the IR unit. The ultrasound product rep, the nurses, the doctors, and of course I were all looking to see some nice blood flow and a stent clear of the clot. No dice. Clot was hard and didn't budge at all. Not a bit. None.
I returned to my room where Dr. told me we needed to move up to the graft and bypass we talked about 2 weeks ago. I was discharged and told to expect calls next week from the scheduling dept.
Disappointed? Yep. Mad? A little. Nervous about a major surgery? Yep. Not sure what to say or do. It's so obvious my future isn't pretty if I don't do it. The collaterals were rampant around the stent this time and it probably won't take long for more lesions to develop if I don't get the blood draining soon. The good news about all this is Dr. Stone really seems to get it, says the probability of success is high, and he will make this a priority and get me in soon.
Indeed, let's hope the tenth time is a charm.
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