@heidemarie, a quick suggestion! Be sure the surgeon is using the latest surgical technique for cleaning out a Carotid artery. A friend of mine had this kind of surgery a few short years ago, and he has been an invalid ever since -- limited both physically and mentally, in and out of the hospital a few times each year. Why? Using old and careless surgical techniques, the operation kicked loose calcium granules and other waste products contained in the blockage material; those junk particles dropped into arteries opened by the surgical knife and soon moved into critical blood pathways in his head and brain, causing some form of a stroke.

As I understand from talking to him, there is new technology that connects the blocked artery to a pump and filter to which any waste particles are diverted and removed, and the clean blood is immediately fed back into the ascending artery headed for the brain, the eyes, the ears, etc. He tells everybody about his plight and recommends only the new technology for surgical cleaning of Carotid arteries. Check above for words from @jakedduck1 on what he calls TCAR.