Removing the gunk from a blocked artery saves a life, saves the mind in fact from a stroke. To find the correct spot is not so easy, they know it's there and they know where it should be but it's hiding.
This is what the NHS website says about this;
'a small cut is then made along the narrowed sections of artery and the fatty deposits that have built up are removed. The artery is closed with stitches or a patch and your skin is also closed with stitches.'
This is what really happens; they must gently dissect away the connective tissue, a veil that holds everything in place, hiding structures from the surgeon. Very carefully and gently they part these webs to finally reveal the carotid artery, vagus nerve and hypoglossal nerve. Once it is ascertained which is which and where they continue. Cobweb fibres stretch briefly under the scissors before tiny cutting movements separate their bonds, the unknown is revealed beneath. It is swollen with a yellowish tinge, the healthy sections are distinguished by a blueish tinge.
The subsequent stitching is what brought me into this project, the tiny spacing of sutures along a patch, a tiny gusset patching a frail artery. There is a discussion about what I would call 'seam allowance' and of how to cut the patch to the right size. The mending is done.
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