When we were first planning to apply for acceptance into the transplant program at IU Health…our family doctor told us to expect to be poked and prodded and given all kinds of tests. He told us to not be discouraged and just go along with whatever they need and we would get through it.
We got a chance to show patience again this last week.
We thought all the tests were completed the transplant team needed when we got a call from our coordinator and said Art had to have another test. We were to leave the next day to go to Michigan for our family “beach week.” Our coordinator was able to get the test scheduled before we had to leave. The transplant team wants to make sure there are no issues with circulation so they ordered a carotid artery ultra-sound and a leg vascular test.
The first test was fairly simple. Art had to lay on his back, then the technician smeared some gel on the carotid artery on one side of his neck and used an ultra-sound wand to record a number of pictures of the blood pulsating through the artery. He repeated it on the other side and was done.
The next test was a little more complicated. The technician took multiple blood-pressure straps and placed them around different sections of the leg all the way to the hips…including a tiny one for the big toe!! He placed his ultra-sound wand on different veins in the foot to listen to the blood pulsing. He then took turns inflating the blood pressure straps one at a time until the blood stopped flowing and recorded what the pressure was when the blood started circulating again. It was a bit painful. The technician couldn’t really give an official diagnosis but said everything looked just fine…so we do not expect this to be any sort of an issue.
Art tries to look at the bright side and knows that we are going to learn all about his health through these tests.
