Janers I do understand the medical terminology and the circulatory system in our bodies as well due to my own medical background.... and I am just so very relieved for you that this got dx'd as soon as it did!
... it could have been a bigger and way worse medical happening than it already is turning out to be....
I wish you all the luck in the world with the angio and hope that the bypass if need be, will be done ASAP and that it is a total success for you!  
I do know that after all is said and done,  you will be feeling so much better.. keep your eyes on that fact and think 'good thoughts'...  after all you are a 'rarity' ....
... and it is strange but my docs have always said the same stuff to me;
ie:  "if it can happen -- it will happen -- to Shelagh"
.... so maybe something related to lupus and our immune systems which over react to everything -- makes us susceptible to 'everything' ... including the rare stuff ?? ...
.... anyhow,  just a thought...... I have a few now and again lol....
well wishes your way in a big way !!
with hugs,
from Shelagh

 I want to thank all of you for your prayers but keep them a coming.

 I saw the surgeon yesterday and he informs me the carotids, that is the arteries on the sides of
 one's neck are OK!!!! but the artery that goes up the head also is called Vertebral and that is the
 one that has the blood flowing the opposite that it should.

 When this happens there usually is a blockage of the big artery from the heart called the
 subclavian.  Now I won't go into MORE detail but to say.
 I am scheduled for a CT angiogram this thurs afternoon.

 the surgeon told me IF the blockage and how bad it is, if it is in that area, HE thinks it is, then
 he will talk to my Heart doctor and decide what to do and how to procede. But he thinks it will need
 a bypass done.  NOW don't ask me to explain that unless you know the anatomy of the heart vessels
 and circulation haha.  Luck have it being a nurse right now is a good thing.
 He said it is a RARE thing to have but lucky to have found it. Rare meaning it don't happen a lot.
 I am having symptoms of numbness in the face off and on but was told it was neuropathy also had
 vision changes a lot this past summer and told it was my meds doing it.  My pulse in the left arm is
 very hard to feel compared to the right and when I lift my arm up and turn my head to the right well
 it is hard to EVEN feel it he said.
 Thus poor circulation.

 NOW I will know more when the test is over, the docs confide and then something will be set up.
 Please keep the prayers and good wishes coming. I will apparantly need it.

 Nothing more than that but it is certainly enough. When he said RARE, I had to laugh because if any
 one gets something rare it is me.  Seems this happens a lot with this old bod

 And they say lupus sucks?  well ya gotta laugh now right?

 thanks again
 janers

did ya feel me there with ya?  I was right there, holdin your hand, and I
said to myself "what a nice lady to be friends with.  I am so glad that she
is my friend."  Mair will probly say something about the bypass, but that
sounds like roadways to me.

With Extra Love,
From Your Devoted Nephew

Pigmet

Yah.  They have to get in there before they even know what they are going to
do.  A bypass is done by using a healthy vessel "donated" from somewhere
else on your body, or it may be of a synthetic material.  I've not heard of
one so close to the heart, but that doesn't mean anything, my medical
knowledge is getting rusty.

Wishing you the best, keeping you in mind and heart
Love always
Mair

Continuing to keep you in my thoughts and prayers.  Shelagh pretty much
covered all of my thoughts and wishes!

Hugs,
Sherry