I ended up getting sick and throwing up. The nurse explained that the acid in my stomach was running into my throat.

After several hours in the inverted position, I was allowed to sit up and I finally felt better. I got some food and some of my family came to visit me. When they left, I played on my phone and went to sleep, at least until they were waking me up to get my vitals. They started me a medicine called Lovenox to thin my blood. It was given by shots straight into my stomach. After the first shot, my mom asked if she could give the shots. She figured if I had to have the shots when we went home, she better learn how to give them. She did a pretty good job. My sister even recorded her giving me a shot one time.

After all of those tests in the first few days, next I just had to have my vitals and blood pressure monitored for a couple excruciatingly boring days of doing nothing but laying, sitting, eating, and walking around the floor I was on. Then, on Friday, one of the neurologists, Dr. Mcguire, wanted to transfer us to CHOP or Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“CHOP? Why would you want us to go there?” My dad asked.

“Because at this point, Noah does not have the ‘puff of smoke’ that goes with Moyamoya and we are not 100% sure what he has. We feel that they will do more for you then we can.” Explained Dr. McGuire. “We are going to transfer him by ambulance later today. But you need to know, the Pope is in Philadelphia, so getting into the city for family members will be difficult.”

This upset my Papa and Nana because they couldn’t drive down to see me later.

We waited for the ambulance to get there, and when they did, I had to get a third I.v in because they had already taken both of them out. It took 2 tries, the first person seeming like she had no clue what she was doing, and it fell out as she was about to put the tape onto the site. The second time the other person did it, and it was the complete opposite. She knew what she was doing.

There was only room for one in the ambulance, so my mom went with me and my dad followed. We tried to watch a movie, but it decided to randomly stop working, so I decided to just close my eyes and try to drift asleep, but there was no use. So when we went into the building they took me to a room and a few Dr.s, nurses, and other hospital officials came and examined me, asked me questions, etc.

They said that they needed another M.R.I to see if anything changed and to re­evaluate the arteries. So after another eternity in that obnoxious machine they said that they need to go over all of the data that Geisinger collected and that they had to meet with all the neurologists, neuroscientists, and all the other hospitals officials to see what the best tactic is to fix what was wrong with my carotid artery. They decided I had a condition called Fibromuscular Dysplasia. It is something I was born with and it can cause my arteries all over my body to thicken and stop blood from flowing through. I spent three days at CHOP and they stopped the shots in my stomach. They said that aspirin would thin my blood enough and I didn’t need the other medicine. I finally heard some great news. I was able to go home! I just had to keep taking the aspirin, stay really hydrated and not do any really physical activity.

My doctor came and and explained “We would like to meet again on October 20th to get an echo and bubble study to see if it has anything to do with a heart condition or blood clot. Then, on November 3rd, we would like to meet with you again to tell you what we believe is the best way to fix this and get you back to your normal lives.”

November 3rd is three days away and I cannot wait!