Over the course of the last few days I had been experiencing some issues with my esophagus; difficulty swallowing specifically, but no other symptoms whatsoever. The pain had become so intense that after three days of not being able to swallow, I sought medical attention in the urgent care center of my hospital.
After waiting a few hours, my doctor collected blood specimens and took an x-ray of my throat. When the results of all the tests came back, she said they were completely normal and the x-ray only showed slight narrowing of my esophagus. However, she said that because she felt it may have been something more, she recommended me to have a CAT scan of the affected area.
At about 7:30 pm, I found myself driving to the emergency room of Kaiser Permanente in Washington DC. As i drove myself to the hospital, I couldn't shake the feeling that something bigger was a problem; incidentally, I was not worried about something wrong with my throat, but only the vague feeling of "wrongness" loomed over my concerns about my health. I phoned my best friend, and told him where I was going and asked him to attend with me, as hospitals scare me quite a bit. When I entered the emergency room, I was immediately escorted back to a room. The hospital staff was very accomodating and found my friend who arrived minutes after I did and escorted him back to my room.
As we waited, I had an IV drawn to rehydrate-- because for the last few days I haven't been eating or drinking much because of the pain while swallowing. More blood was drawn to test the levels in my kidney in order to assess whether or not my body would accept a contrast for the CAT Scan. And I grew ever more impatient with the HMO process (the wait times, the lack of communication between my doctor and the hospital, not to mention the weekend hours when the hospital was understaffed.)
I came dangerously close to walking out, I even grew so impatient that I told my nurse that I wanted to leave, and I would worry about this later.
They pushed me to the front of the line for the CAT scan, it was over in mere minutes.
And then I waited some more.
Once again, I grew impatient and told my nurse that I wanted to leave and the results from the CAT Scan should be forwarded to my primary doctor; but the nurse insisted I stay and await the results, after all I had already spent six hours there. What I thought was going to be a routine appointment, turned out to be very different.
My nurse was especially helpful and pushed my doctor to meet with me; as I put on my coat, the doctor arrived and said that everything was normal with my throat and the CAT scan revealed nothing out of the ordinary. However, while he was viewing the CAT scan, he noticed an AVM; something that I'd never even heard of. He explained his knowledge of what it was and the potential dangers but made no suggestion to see a neurologist.
As of today, I've decided to get a consultation and see what the risks actually are from a qualified individual.
Oddly enough, as soon as the CAT Scan was completed, my pain in my throat subsided COMPLETELY. In retrospect, I really believe that some higher power wanted me to know about my AVM and this pain in my throat was manifested in order to get a CAT Scan. One that incidentally revealed this condition to me.
The AVM from what he told me lies over the part of my brain that controls speech, balance and vision.
Whoa.
So over the course of an indeterminate amount of time, I'll be taking steps to assess treatment options and speak with vascular neurologists about this.
A little about me:
23 years old, male, very physically fit, no history of major surgeries, no allergies, by all means a healthy person, only a history of migraines from time to time that coincidentally tend to radiate from the general location of the AVM. I'm here looking for insights about treatment, surgeries, as well as doctors.