Amazing Victory for Mel

I went into NY Presbyterian hospital at 7 am today and was taken into the angiogram by 8. I was awake during the procedure but they injected me with meds to calm me down. During the angiogram, the doctor was telling me when to hold my breath, when I would feel warm/burning sensations and when I would see sparks or clouds. It was actually one of the craziest things because I literally felt them in my brain for an hour, poking around, taking pictures and injecting dyes. 

The doctors were talking throughout the procedure to each other in medical terms I don't know so I wasn't really paying attention until the surgeon said "You're cured." "What? Me? Does that mean there's no AVM???" "Yes. That's right, your brain looks great-- no AVM, the gamma knife worked." So obviously I started hysterically crying on the table. One of the nurses asked if I was in pain or in joy? I said joy!! 

They finished the procedure and closed up my wound (more painful than I remembered from last time-- I was screaming in pain, crying from joy, and it was just a crazy scene.) I opened my eyes and my left eye had a blackness over it. I began to panic a little that I couldn't see. The nurse did some neurological and vision tests, I failed them because I couldn't see from one eye. She told me that he last injected dye to my left side that was next to the optic nerve so she was confident it was a temporary loss. 

I was rolled out of the OR and with my eyes closed and my head splitting, I whispered to my family "guys, guess what? My AVM is gone." After they spoke to the surgeon I said to them: "Guys, I made up a joke .. What does AVM stand for? ...Amazing Victory for Mel!" And then I fell asleep. 

I had a splitting headache from irritation from the catheter in my brain and I was nauseas as ever! It made me more dizzy and nauseous to have my eyes open, since I couldn't see out of my left eye, so I laid there with Abigail (my giraffe) over my face, an ice pack on the back of my head and an ice pack on my puncture wound for hours. I was in and out of it for the next few hours. I couldn't lift my head and was in excruciating pain when I would open my eyes and/or move my head. The nurses were incredible and super sweet.  But I was in bad shape. They pumped saline and antinausea into me for a few hours and I drank a ton of water-- the verdict was that once the contrast would flush out, my vision would go back to normal, the headache would subside and because of those, the nausea would be gone. 

I was discharged from the hospital still nauseous and with a headache, but thank God, my vision was back to normal! Now I'm home, nausea subsided, vision is normal and now I'm just waiting for the headache to vanish.

Since November 2011, I have had AVM on my mind, literally and figuratively. And tonight, for the first time in a long 4.5 years, I will sleep soundly. 

I also just wanted to take a second to clear up any confusion about what an AVM is: 

AVM stands for arteriovenous malformation (arteries, veins... malformation) it is a tangle of arteries and veins that is a random birth defect, not genetic, that can happen to anyone,  anywhere in the body. I was lucky enough to have it in the prime real estate of my brain. 

An AVM is not a tumor, it is a vascular malformation... A cousin to an aneurism ... If the doctor hadn't screwed up in 2012, this road to recovery would have been much shorter. But now, March 16, 2016, I am officially AVM free!! 

Thank you to everyone who prayed, called, texted, facebooked and supported me and my family throught the last few days and over the last 5 years!! The braincapades are over.. Time to celebrate!!!! 

Braink You all for being incredible people!!! Xox