In the past, I may have intimated in these pages that I somehow felt something wasn't quite right medically, even though all the comprehensive tests I've had in the last 2 years have been ok. So now we know what's up. My left carotid is nearly blocked. I have an appointment with a stroke specialist to see what to do next. Maybe a

carotid endarterectomy (Click for info)

I started Intravenous chelation therapy (Click for info) a few weeks ago as a preventive measure, but it's expensive and not covered by insurence, so I was going very slowly. Now I'm not sure what to do. I just know I've been there, done that (stroke) and don't want to go there again. Maybe it's not that critical and has been there a while, but some how, another signal my body has been sending, screams CRITICAL in light of this new info.

Mayo of course, provides excellant care, but they don't touch chelation therapy with a 10 foot pole. Merely going off cholesterol medicine and blood pressure meds gives my doctor conniptions.

Now, how to balence the fact that's it's literally my life at stake, with the pharmacitical industry's drugs and propaganda, the surgeon's luxery lifestyle, alternative medicines beliefs / claims, and the insurance industry only paying for the mainstream techniques.

An example: Stents and bypass surgery can give people a better quality of life, but statistics apparently show that they often clog right back up and often don't extend a longer life.

Wish me luck. It's probably nothing anyway.

Curiouoso* doing a good imitation of a Ostrich with his head in the sand.