Echographie-Doppler

Four rendez-vous had to be made. Two seemed relatively straightforward.

Firstly an ultrasound scan of my carotid arteries and the arteries supplying my eyes.

Secondly a sleep consultant to explore possible apnoea.

Thirdly an MRI of parts of my head to explore possible inflammation.

The first two were quickly made via our website doctolib. The third was far more complicated. Different MRI machines do different things. I found a clinic, who said to contact them in two weeks' time. Meanwhile my own doctor suggested that his secretary could find me an appointment. I asked her - she found me two - on in March, one in May.

The issue is an anomaly on both optic nerves which does not affect my vision. This was first noticed a year ago my the ophthalmologist and has not changed since that time.

Well on Monday I rolled up at the clinic at 9:00 for my ultrasound. 

"Sorry, we can't do this. You've booked an ultrasound and you need an ultrasound-doppler. We do that here bit it's a different doctor. You can wait to speak to him or make another appointment."

I went home and phoned the number. "We can do you tomorrow morning at 8:45."

Thus it was that a charming Breton vascular specialist did an ultrasound-doppler scan of my carotid arteries and of the arteries that feed the eyes. "How come I haven't seen you at the family reunions?" he said, own discovering that we are Celtic cousins. "There's nothing wrong there", quoth he, before wishing me "Gwenn a vo", while I replied "Da bo i chi".

Listening to your own arteries reminds you of those early scans to find the baby's heartbeat. It's kind of cool, especially when the doctor is friendly.

Thinking over this issue with my optic nerves reminded me of some years ago, perhaps 2015 or 2016, when I was unwell during a service at Dan. My vision was affected and for a while I couldn't read properly. At the time it was put down to a sudden drop in blood pressure - a faint, though friends who suffer migraines put it down tone of those. Perhaps what we're exploring now is linked with this episode, now long-forgotten.