Two years ago today I did something pretty amazing. Not by myself, it took a team. A small “village” of medical professionals if you will, but I made medical history. Two years ago, I had a life saving procedure to eradicate the blood clots that had formed in a major blood vessel near my heart. During this procedure, the doctor saw an opportunity to “push the boundaries” of both medicine and science (not just for the sake of research) but also for the sake of getting me the best possible outcome from that procedure, as it was the second one I had had in as many months. When he “informed me” of his intentions to go further than we had planned (yes, I was awake during this entire ordeal), I will admit, a part of me was scared SHITLESS! Another part of me however, was REALLY PUMPED!! We were going to go where no one had ever gone before (medically speaking). And it could either go REALLY well, and I would be potentially “fixed” and others could learn from this and also be helped in the future, or…

   Or…yeah. And then I thought about the other part. That’s when my surgeon said to me, “Miranda, I’m losing you here. Why are you making that face?” I not so calmly responded with, “Because I’m trying not to FREAK OUT!!!” He then gave me a little speech about “being brave and how sometimes we have to face our fears head on.” He told me to imagine I was a fierce warrior (I picked Katniss from “The Hunger Games”), and to pretend that I was just picking off my opponents one by one with a bow and arrow each time he needed me to focus on giving him feedback as he would inflate and deflate the balloons and the pressure felt too much to bear. We worked through the process together. Then he had his nurse Brad snow me with a nice strong sedative after the hard part was over. I was very grateful for that too. 

   I will always be so satisfied in knowing that not only did that procedure work to help me, but because it was written up in medical journals it helped others. Like so many other “firsts”, it went on to be a model for how to proceed in cases similar to mine. I know that every ounce of fear or pain I felt was worth it if it means someone else has as equally great an outcome as I did. The best part was, the procedure was successful long term too and I no longer suffer from blood clots in my superior vena cava. I still visit my doctors in New York City about once a year, but now, rather than the desperate and depressing visits I used to have, I now look forward to telling them how well I’m doing and to get that feedback about how great everything looks. 

    As a parting thought to leave you with, I’ll just say that medical research is a wonderful, life saving thing that has absolutely altered my life on more than one occasion. I have had the pleasure of working with some of the best surgeons in the country and arguably the world both as a patient and a staff member over the last 15 years. I have also been part of numerous research studies as a patient and would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to do so to participate in one. It’s how we learn about new & improved ideas, new treatments and new plans of care amongst other things. 

  So two years ago I kinda won “The Hunger Games”. And it was a really awesome, cool, amazing, hard fought and GOOD thing.