My Chaotic Realm

My head/neck CT scan was FINALLY done (by Ochsner) yesterday afternoon. Memorial hospital’s vascular surgeon (Dr. Andrea Barker) is STILL refusing to address the issue of my persistent/recurrent right occipital headache, even though it occurred on 5.27.2023 with the iliac/celiac artery dissections & the splenic infarction. Full disclosure? She says she has no need to see me because my (chest) CTA was fine. Meanwhile, Ochsner suspects the cause of my constant head/neck pain is vascular and (as it occurred same time) is most likely related to the event that occurred on May 27 th . Hence their willingness to do yesterday’s CTA of my neck and head.   Ochsner called me with my results at not quite 5pm yesterday. Lots of medicalese but the gist of it is this: I have a proximal extracranial right vertebral artery dissection (VAD) with partially thrombosed dissection flap and mild native luminal narrowing with an additional focal dissection of the distal extracranial left internal ...

Well, while I would love to regale you with tales of great healing and a miraculous return to my prior self, that is not the case. I had my follow up with Memorial’s “transitional care management (TCM)” doctor a week after I got home. It was beyond useless. When I brought up my concern about the right occipital headache that has lingered since May 27 th , telling her it feels like someone slammed a brick into the back of my head and I vomit every damn day, she stated “that is not related to your issue" -- even though they occurred at the same damn time as the celiac artery dissection with splenic infarction as well as the dissection of the entire course of the left common iliac artery!! She did tell me I was welcome to go to ER if I thought it necessary. Or make an appointment with a primary care doctor (which I tried but he can’t see me until September 7 th !). I actually thought Laureli was gonna punch her in the face. We went home and I promptly called Memorial’s vascular surg...