About

Introduction

I'm a 32yo man (as of 2022) living in Chennai, India and I have congenital slow-flow venous malformation in my left forearm from the elbow until the tips of my fingers. Each of those terms has a specific significance. Starting from...

• Congenital - I was born with this. When I was born I had a black lump, at least as I'm told by my mother, on my left palm. It was just a bulge of something dark under the skin of my palm, right in the center. We were told that it should sort itself out with time and that it wasn't anything serious.
• Slow-flow - This is one of the types of venous malformation, one of the lesser risky ones.
• Venous malformation - A malformation of the veins. Better explained by the experts

Venous malformations (VMs) occur when veins do not form normally. VMs can be completely isolated from normal veins or can drain into them. VMs are not part of the normal vein system. (Source - Johns Hopkins Medicine)

My journey so far

When I was a kid I just noticed that my left arm felt different and I didn't feel comfortable with it. I occasionally had pain and swelling in my hand and forearm. There was no explanation for it. I was always self-conscious about it and couldn't really put it in words as to how to describe it or understand it. And the pain and discomfort weren't serious enough and persistent enough for us to seek professional help.

When I was about 22 or so, I did seek a Vascular Specialist in Chennai. His name was Dr. Sekhar N and he was at Apollo Hospitals in Greams Road at the time. He had us do an MRI and XRAY and he diagnosed me with Slow flow venous malformation. It was the first time I had a name to this thing. His advise upon inspection of my scans was that there is no real treatment for this. I just have to live with it. He mentioned that there are two possible treatments for it, one being surgery and the other being injection of some kind that will shrink these enlarged malformations. Later I would come to suppose that he was talking about Sclerotherapy. He mentioned that neither of these would actually be effective since they would both be very risky since my malformations were extensive and infused with the bones and muscles. It would be hard to isolate and separate them.

He just advised me to get a compression stocking for my forearm so that the vessels don't bulge too much. I thought this was the best solution possible. He had me believe that at least.

In 2018 again, I felt like it was worsening and out of desperation I google again, for the best vascular specialist in Chennai and at the time I didn't realize it, but I once again was led to Sekhar. It had been long enough that I didn't realize I was visiting the same doctor as I had in 2012. But he did the same tests and gave me the same advice - get a compression stocking and don't do anything more.

Finally something different...

In 2022 I stumbled upon a YouTube video talking about a specific treatment for venous malformation. And it seemed promising.

Dr. Mohal Banker's introduction of this disease and his explanation of what happens was the most satisfying account of the disease I had heard. And the solution he was proposing seemed like the dream solution - it was permanent and effective.

I sought an online consultation with him via his website and he patiently explained all my questions and I booked my appointment for 25th November 2022.

As I'm writing this, it's my 4th day post my first session. I am writing this blog to document my journey and document the progress of the treatment.

For much of my life I have suffered in the darkness of not knowing what this is. My hope is that through this blog others who have this condition can also seek answers and know enough about this potential treatment.

At the moment the treatment seems promising but I don't know what is going to happen ultimately. We'll have to wait and see. I will be documenting everything here.