Worried

In January 2005 I had to have a minor surgery to biopsy a lump I found on my breast. In the recovery room I had horrific chest pain. The pulmonologist was called in to see me and he surmised that my blood pressure dropped causing an ischemic chest pain because of the compromised pulmonary artery. Nearly a year went by until summer 2006 when I developed some of the worst pain I had ever had. I thought it was just another flareup, but something told me it was more serious. I was also experiencing more fatigue and having blackout spells when I’d lift or stretch. I tried to wait it out, but I ended up going to the ER where, once again, I was told I needed to have an angiogram to check the stents. I realized the best thing to do was to try to find Dr. Rothman and ask him what to do.

A few days later I found Dr. Rothman after searching for him on the Internet. He told me he wanted to do the angiogram himself and wanted me to make arrangements to fly to Las Vegas where he was now practicing. In September I went to Las Vegas with Monica and met up with my mom. Dr. Rothman examined me and was not surprised by any of my symptoms. The angiogram revealed that my stents had nearly closed off completely. He said I was as ill as I had been when he first met me in San Diego. Apparently, the tissue in my vessels grew through the stent and closed them off. “You’re a tissue grower, “ Dr. Rothman told me. Amazingly, he managed to open the stents up using balloon angioplasty even more than he had initially six years before. The next day I could tell the difference in how I felt. The plan is for me to have angiograms every two years to check the stents and reopen them if need be.