False Creek Medical Center

In the words of a great man, "if you do nothing, nothing will get better"


The first step in getting better is to find out if your sick and that is what we did. We booked Don into having a Doppler Ultrasound and MRV at the False Creek Medical Center. The experience was... hmmm... interesting. If you have been following the CCSVI avalanche of information you may have heard that two people received the "Liberation Treatment" in Victoria. That was shut down quickly and the doctors had there hands slapped. This happened just before Don's appointment, so things at the clinic were a little tense or tight lipped.


While waiting, we made friends with a couple from Ontario that were here for the same scans. The husband was wheelchair bound and not in great shape physically. His spirits seems high though and even higher after the doctor stopped his Doppler scan early. As the doctor put it, "there is no need to scan any further, your viens are exteremly narrowed". Off they went to get the MRV.


We've never been so happy to find out a complete stranger was sick and i'm sure they were bursting on the inside. Like I said, step one "be sick".


Well, now it was Don's turn. We get Don into the exam room, get his shirt off (not as easy as it sounds will a less then fully functioning left arm) and wait for the doctor. Waiting is painfully. It leaves you time to think. Will Don be as lucky as our new friend, what if they don't find anything, what if they do find something?


Act 2: The doctor enters the examination room. The Doc starts his examination, first ultrasounding Don's left side. The ultrasound machine flashs up some pictures and in my best medical opinion everything looked find. The pictures are black and white and definitely look better then an ink blot test. Now as you may have figured out, i'm am not a doctor. That being said the doctor said everything looked good and sounded good. Well, lets hope we have better luck on the right side.

Remember, we want collapsed viens, that puts some meaning, some reason for Don's MS and Ureka!!!! we have an issue. As soon as the doctor puts the ultrasound sensor on Don's right side of the neck you instantly knew something was wrong. Instead of a whirring sound like on the left side, the right side sounded choppy. The doctor also saw something because, in his words "Don is a great candidinate for balloon angyoplasty in Poland".