January 30, 2014

01/17/2014

As most of y'all know, I've been having pain problems with my legs since September.  In December I had a sonogram done and then got an appointment with a vascular surgeon .  He had to cancel the appointment but called and made me an appointment with Dr. Athar Ansari at the California Heart & Vascular Clinic here in El Centro.

After visiting with Dr. Ansari yesterday, Joyce and I are very pleased.  Dr. Ansari first explained what is going on in my arteries and what caused it in the first place.  He then gave us an in-depth explanation of what he does to fix the problem and then took us on a personal tour of his facility.

Dr. Ansari is basically going to "roter-router" both of my legs, starting with the left one next Tuesday.  He will go in through my groin with a tool that he co-developed and clean the arteries out, removing all of the "stuff".  After the procedure, I will stay in the clinic for up to four hours and then go home, returning the next day to make sure I am not having any problems.  A week later, he will do my right leg.

After another week, I will need to have another sonogram on my legs to make sure I am still getting good blood flow and then in six months another one will be done.  Dr. Ansari is going to call my doctor at Bend Memorial Clinic and get that set up for me.  He will also be sending Dr. Russell all my charts with the test results and his intervention information.

During our interview, Dr. Ansari reviewed his background with us as well.  One of my questions was why he chose to have his practice in El Centro.  he told us that when he completed his training here in the United States, he wanted to stay an practice medicine here.  In order to get a work permit, he had to choose a place where his services were needed so, "here I am".

01/22/2014

Finally, some good things happening in the Crocker household.

Yesterday, I had my left leg "rotter-routed" and all went very well.  I now have good blood flow when before, as you can see in the pictures, very little blood movement in the main artery.  Dr. Ansari did an outstanding job and Joyce and I are very grateful.  I won't go into the details of how he did the procedure but suffice it to say, I felt like I was in good hands during the whole thing.

Left Leg Before & After

Some advice for everyone.  If you feel any unexplained tiredness or pain in your legs, see your doctor right away.  I should have gone and had my legs checked a long time ago but waited until I was actually getting bad pain in my calves.  That could have proved to be disastrous.  Don't wait!

I had a wound check today and they scheduled me for my right leg to be done on 3 Feb.  Dr. Ansari said he gives his chances about 85% for a complete cleaning of that artery.  It is full occluded so it is going to be harder to do the necessary work.  Joyce and I are optimistic and hopeful that everything will go well and we can get on with our lives.

01/30/2012

Dr. Ansari was able to fit me in earlier than scheduled and I had the right leg rodded-out this past Monday.  I am very happy to report that the procedure went very well, even better than the left leg.  I'm not ready to run a marathon or anything close to it but I can say I feel much better.

Right Leg Before & After

I have an appointment on Saturday to have another ultrasound done and a followup on that in a couple of weeks.  If everything looks good the doctors should cut me loose!

More later.

Barry & Joyce