It's been a while now that I feel tiredness in my right thigh, especcially when I walk. As it was just tiredness , not pain, I didn't really consider this seriously. However, this tiredness has recently been getting worse and worse. If I walk up to 500 metres, I need to stop for a minute before going on walking. I mentioned that to my GP who suggested having my blood vessels checked.
About a month ago, I was diagnosed with PAD (Peripheral Arterial Disease). This is a narrowing of one or more arteries - mainly the arteries that supply blood to the legs and is mainly caused by smoking and high cholesterol. First I had an ultrasound test for about 10 minutes. This showed there was a problem in the upper part of my right thigh. So I had to go through more tests like the ABP test (Ankle Bracchial Pressure) to check the blood pressure in my ankles and then compare this to the blood pressure in my arm. Fortunately, that was normal - there was no difference between the two pressures.However, this test doesn't identify which blood vessel is narrowed. So, the next step was to take a CT Scan which clearly showed that the narrowing was up to 90% - therefore it couldn't be treated with medication.
Finally, on Tuesday morning I'm having angioplasty. During the procedure, a tiny balloon is inserted into the artery and blown up at the section that is narrowed. This widens the affected part of the artery. I won't be given full anaesthetic and my doctors assure me that the procedure, which takes about an hour, is quite painless. I'll have to stay in hospital for 24 hours, though. I fully trust my doctors and hope that all will go well. Naturally, I've already given up smoking. I promised my doctors that I would do that soon after I was back from the holidays and so I did. It's been 10 days now and haven't smoked at all. It's not easy but I'm determined to stick to non-smoking however hard it may be at the beginning. My GP prescribed NicoPlus - pills that help people give up smoking. I haven't used them so far and truly hope that I won't need to. When there is a will, there is a way.
Recent Comments