Share review of Mr Adam Howard

Mr Adam Howard 2021-07-21 Person 5 5 0

Mr Howard was amazing so kind and professional, he always made me feel safe. My journey started back in February where my right arm swelled and went discoloured (bluish/purple except for my finger tips) and I went to A&E. A&E were unsure what it was so I was put on Clexane injections incase it was a blood clot and told to come back to the DVT clinic. When I came back an ultrasound scan showed I had a Subclavian DVT. It was here where things could have gone badly had it not been for Mr Howard. I was put on the vascular waiting list to come back in 2 or more weeks. I wasn't happy with this as I felt I didn't have any answers to any questions I had and asked to speak to the Medical Consultant in AMSDEC. He eventually called Mr Howard and Mr Howard asked to see me in the next 2 days in his clinic instead, double booking me onto his already extremely busy morning list. When I went to clinic he looked at my scans and arm and told me he wanted to admit me in immediately for thrombolysis of the removal of the blood clot, telling me these are time sensitive and we had only 14 days from when is first formed to remove it or it can solidify...I was day 10 by the time I went in and had it done. Mr Howard informed me I had Thoracic outlet syndrome which due to having a narrow space between my collar bone and 1st rib when I put my arms above my head it caused the subclavian vein to become occluded. I had stated weight lifting at the gym since covid and this constant squashing of the vein had damaged it to the point where it has formed a clot. 4 days later, 72 hours of thrombolysis and a venoplasty to stretch the vein and remove the clot and I had such relief. The 5cm clot had dispersed! And my worry of PE's and Stokes was almost gone. Mr Howard reassured me that by staying on the blood thinners the rest if the clot within the vein would disperse. However there was a lot of residual scaring to the vein. I was informed that the next thing to do was surgery to removed my 1st rib and to stay on blood thinners until then to prevent future clots. During this time I had worsening pain due to the thoracic outlet syndrome causing chest pain, tingling down my arm, headaches should pain and neck pain. I even had a CTPA done to check for clots in my lungs because i was feeling short of breathe which all turned out to be symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome. Mr Howard came to see me when this happened and told me I would having surgery in the next few weeks. And reassured me that it was normal and was best to have rest. I stopped working completely at this point. I had my rib removed on the 11th of June and I am now 5 weeks post surgery and I am feeling much better! Beat thing I could have done was to have the surgery and would advice anyone who is nervous to get and have Mr Howard do theirs too! The procedure itself was over in 2 hours but I wasn't aware of anything until much later. I had a nerve block which helped me greatly with the pain. It last about 12 hours post op and I never needed a PCA, just had regular Oxycodone and the normal Ibuprofen and Paracetamol. It was painful in the following weeks but gets easier after the first few days. My arm felt very heavy and I had some numbness which was gone by about week 3/4. I had the stitches out after 3 weeks and the wound is healing so well. The cut went along my collar bone but I can already tell its going to heal and be very neat and very faint it doesn't bother me at all! I stated Physio after 2 weeks and the exercises help so much with my range of movement and stiffness. I struggled with being short of breath, very tired and some dizziness for the first few weeks but with gentle slowly increasing exercise that has now almost gone. I was able to drive after 5 weeks Mr Howard called me on the telephone to let me know I am now able to return to work. I am a ITU nurse and need to be able to return to moving and handling of patients which he says I can now do. I will be going back as a phased return as I have been non clinical since the blood clot happened in February. If I had an office job I would have been happy to return to work after 4 weeks. However for me it's actually been 6 weeks and a phased return but it's not as common to develop a blood clot and having been off for so long it's our policy to be phased back to work. I am now to continue on blood thinners until the next operation to remove my 1st rib on the left side as I occlude my subclavian vein on that side when I put my arm up too. It is expected to be in about 6 months time and I can't wait for it to all be over and done. Thank you for all you did for me Mr Howard, I am so pleased it will be you doing the next surgery too. I wouldn't have wanted anyone else.