By Shannon McKinley

My journey started 2018.

I was two months out of coronary bypass x 4 and diligent about my cardiac rehab.

I started to realize that when walking, my legs started cramping.

I followed up with my PCP who ordered an ABI (editor’s note: Ankle Brachial Index, where blood pressure cuffs are placed on legs and arms to measure the differential.) on legs.

That started the ball on this roller coaster.

I had a CT Angiogram (editor’s note: Advanced imaging to better visualize the arteries with contrast fluid piped in via IV) of both legs the summer of 2019.

By then both legs where in horrific pain with walking and waking me up at night.

You could imagine the lack of sleep because of it was impacting my work as I was still full time as a Clinical Manager in an Urgent Care.

After looking at the CTA results, the surgeon told me both legs needed bypassed.

In October 2019, I had my left leg fem/pop bypass, where the doctor connected a vein graft from my thigh to just below my knee to re-route bloodflow around an artery blockage.

The right leg was to be done at a later point.

By March 2020 my left leg the bypassed one was crippling in pain.

At the time, we were at the start of the Covid epidemic.

I could not slow down my career as we were busier than ever.

Healthcare was crazy.

I spent long days on my legs doing Covid swabs in a drive-thru testing area as well as working the floor in urgent care do to staff shortages.

It took 3 months for my vascular doctor to get me in.

It was awful.

Many a night I would come home and just lay in bed and cry from the pain.

When I finally got the consult with my vascular doctor, we learned that the bypass had failed.

They admitted me to the hospital where I spent 5 days in ICU doing TPA therapy (editor’s note: direct catheter delivery of clot busting drugs), which was brutal.

I could only lay flat on my back and couldn’t move because of the sheath in my groin.

After those brutal 5 days, the verdict was in and It didn’t work.

So, my vascular doctor re-did my bypass.

That seemed to do the trick for a few months.

But when I was getting ready to have my other leg bypassed, the pain in my bypassed leg started again.

Mind you, I was still working full-time during all of this.

I followed up with the vascular doctor and he said the bypass failed again.

He said the last resort effort would be a cadaver bypass.

But they would only do it as a hail mary when things really go south and it’s either that or amputation.

Meantime, he offered me chronic pain meds, which I refused.

I just tried my best to push through.

And just when I didn’t think I could last any longer, I became involved with The Way To My Heart’s Facebook Group and I met its founder Kym McNicholas.

She suggested I get a second opinion so I understand all available options and decide what felt best for me.

She told me about the ACV group in Grand Rapids, Michigan where the healtchare team validated the pain and misery I was in and offered a minimally invasive approach to see if that would help, since that cadaver bypass was the last ditch effort before amputation.

I had some angioplasty where they use a balloon to push the plaque aside and they were able to open up the arteries my other doctor couldn’t and had to bypass around.

They are great!

I had to have the stent cleaned out at one point and will likely need another clean-up again.

But they’re able to go back in quickly and easily and I’m home within hours.

Recovery with a minimally invasive procedure is way better than the bypass last spring where I was forced to be out of work on disability.

I’m on my feet and yet I still haven’t even had my right leg done yet.

If and when I think I need that, I will be trying a minimally invasive approach first because it’s so much easier and my results have been better.

Getting my carotid arteries in my neck likely will have to come first, though, as those are getting close to a severe narrowing.

I am 49 and 5 years into this crazy ride.

My best advice is always get a second opinion before you agree to any treatment because I’ve learned more options may be available.

But know that you are not along if you are in your 40’s and dealing with an early onset of narrowed arteries!

I’ve learned in this Facebook Group that there are more like us who try to support one another and get the best information on advances in PAD care from The Way To My Heart.