Session #5 & 6 - Absolute Ethanol Embolization Treatment for Vascular (Venous) Malformation

As in all the previous sessions, everything went smoothly and here I'm just going to highlight the changes:-

  1. Unlike the previous sessions, where I had only one session for the trip, this time I got 2 sessions on consecutive days, one session per day. The doctor had informed me last time that he was going to adopt this strategy because now my malformations are getting smaller and it takes longer time to identify the landing zone and that he was going to focus on different areas of the forearm across 2 different sessions on consecutive days. This was great for me because it was more economical and also reduced the waiting time between two sessions. I had half the travel time/expenses and also the cost of the two sessions spread across two months would have been more.
  2. The total ethanol injected across both days was 22mL. Session 5 was on Thursday (18/05/2023) and I had ethanol injected across two sites - 10mL right below my wrist and 5mL on the palm. On Friday (19/05/2023) I had 7mL injected on the back of my hand.
  3. This time I was VERY satisfied with both the volume of ethanol injected and where it was injected. The wrist and palm areas are my most problematic areas and this time, across both the sessions our focus was in these areas and I am already feeling that it is quite effective as I'm writing this, even though it is just Sunday (21/05/2023).
  4. There is no pain. My fingers and palm are numb and itchy and I know from my previous sessions that this is a great sign that the nidus has been destroyed and internally the dead tissue is being consumed by the surrounding tissue.
  5. There is however significant swelling, but as I said, I'm very happy because this is actually a good sign that the treatment is going as expected.
  6. As always all the staff and the doctors were extremely helpful and everything went smoothly. I'm so grateful especially to Dr. Mohal Banker and his assistant Nisha for all the great work they're doing!

Session #5 Day 0 - Right after the 5th session on 18th May 2023 while the effect of the anaesthesia was still on.


Session #5 Day 1 - After taking off the bandages after the 5th session.


Session #6 Day 1 - Day after session 6 before the bandage was removed



Session #6 Day 2 - After bandage removal, to show the swelling

https://youtube.com/shorts/jTwkqTlTNhc



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