Oh, Minnekhada...

This is actually a bit of a test to see if anybody actually reads this blog. On Canada Day, July 1st, I went for a hike up Minnekhada (yes the same mountain that gave me the "early warning signs" that led to my open heart surgery two years ago) with Mike, Brenda and Janice. At the top of the High Knoll my right leg and right arm seemed weak and slightly uncoordinated. When we were coming down from the top, Janice asked if my leg was sore because I seemed to be limping. We went for coffee after the hike and I biked home without any problems - the weakness seemed to have gone away. We had a BBQ with the Plymouth Crescent crowd that night, and all was normal.
The next morning (Wednesday) I had a couple of teleconferences, which I did from home. I noticed that the weakness was back (not as severe) and that my typing was slower with many more mistakes. My speech seemed a little slurred, and my handwriting was basically illegible too. After talking with Steve Hall (I work with him), decided I best go see my doctor - who's office is just down the street. Dr. Woods didn't like my story - it had warning signs all over it, and referred me to the "Stroke Prevention Clinic" at Vancouver General Hospital. The clinic called on Thursday morning and I had an appointment on Friday at 11:30am.

I met with the Neurologist (Dr.Teal) and his resident (the Stroke Clinic is run by VGH and UBC) for about an hour. They could notice a slight difference between my right and left sides, and also with my fine motor skills on the right side. Dr.Teal got all my recent lab results, including the MIBI imaging done last September, and sent me next door to get a CTA (CAT scan/angiogram). The results of this test were posted on their internal web, and when I was done with the scan, Laura and I went back over to the clinic to talk with Dr. Teal about the results. The CTA showed a small stroke had occurred, but that it was already mostly healed. There was no tumor, and the large vessels in my neck and brain were all clear and OK.
Because there was confirmation of a stroke, but not obvious source for the clot, Dr. Teal sent me downstairs for bloodwork (12 vials!) and then upstairs for a heart ultrasound. The heart ultrasound also showed everything was working properly so all the major, obvious sources of the clot were crossed off the list. I'm to call Dr. Teal on Wednesday July 9 to see what the bloodwork showed. In all, Laura and I were at the clinic from 11am to 6pm. We saw Dr. Teal 3 different times, had a CTA scan, an ultrasound and bloodwork all done within 200 meters of his office. Pretty impressive. Stay tuned for the results!