By Ms. Gina

My journey goes back some years.

I can go back to 2015 when I really took notice that something could be going on with my legs.

I couldn’t walk half a block without my legs feeling like I was dragging bricks.

I did nothing until about October, 2020 when I finally sought out a vascular doctor who did the initial testing and confirmed PAD.

He told me I HAD to quit smoking.

So, I did.

Januar 4, 2021 was my last cigarette.

My left leg was first one the vascular doctor decided to attempt to try and open up the blocked artery in an angiogram using balloons for angioplasty.

He gained access to my arteries through my foot versus the groin.

Two weeks later, he tried to open up multiple areas in my right leg.

He placed two stents in the right thigh, as he was concerned that angioplasty wasn’t enough to keep the artery open after angioplasty because it was tight.

Even though there were blockages below my knee, with only one artery open to feed my feet, he wouldn’t treat those.

*sigh*

Fast forward to 2023…I went a vascular doctor with my records in hand along with disk with the images.

He immediately says, “Well, I can’t do anything below the knees and my plan of treatment would be bypass on left leg.”

Ummm…no thanks…

My symptoms aren’t bad enough to go that far.

But my insurance is another issue, as we didn’t have great insurance due to my husband’s job, but hoping to get better insurance within the next month and maybe I can get a second opinion from someone who does know how to treat below-the-knee IF I ever need it.

In the meantime, I just pray and check my feet daily for discoloration.

Thankfully, there’s nothing going on currently.

Here’s hoping for the best outcome for us all.