Hi! My name is Sandi, I am 44 years old and I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania (USA). I am a stay at home Mom. I have been married for 21 years to my wonderful husband Joseph (We call him Jay). We have 3 beautiful Children..Jason 19, Theron 14 and Sadie 11. We have an English Setter named "Tori", a Beagle named" Daisy" and another beagle named "Maggie". Some of my hobbies include...Painting, crafting, crocheting, making e-mail stationery for Outlook Express, and I am addicted to yard sales. I also love gardening, but have too many deer to actually have one survive. I love quotes, my favorite being "The gene pool could use a little more chlorine". I love to see people smile and laugh. I also love to bake, especially Christmas Cookies. I was truly blessed in 2001, as I was being tested for unrelated symptoms, an MRI revealed an aneurysm. I was given the opportunity to clip my aneurysm before a rupture. October 28, 2001 I was diagnosed with a 5mm left middle cerebral artery aneurysm. I have had a brain MRI and an MRA. I am scheduled for an invasive angiogram on December 4th and seeing that coiling is not very likely in this location, will have a craniotomy (clipping) on December 5th. I had prior symptoms which led my neurologist to do the brain MRI thinking it may possibly be Multiple Sclerosis. They included...Left foot/ankle numbness, staggering, stumbling and a feeling of shocks going down both my arms. I also suffer from terrible sinus problems. They say these symptoms are not related to the aneurysm. Also, I have had 3 cousins who suffered from ruptured aneurysms, so I understand that my brothers, Sisters and Kids need to be screened because my Aneurysm was determined to be 'Familial". Published and Updated 30 Dec 2001 I was scheduled for an aneurysm clipping on Dec 5th. Well, I made it!!! And quite well I might add. I was released on Dec 8th, but my ride home for my hubby and I was not available till the 9th. I ended up with two clips because he said it was very irregular. I passed my questions test ( name, date, name of hospital, presidents name) one hour after surgery. I passed more questions ( name 3 states that start with M, say the months backwards starting with August and count backwards from 100 by 7's) on Day 2. I passed physical Therapy also on day two. They were amazed that I did not hold the handrail while doing stairs. My incision starts at the center part in my hair on forehead and goes all the way down to the front of my left ear (35 staples) and now 22 days later is healing nicely. I feel amazingly well, except for the drowsiness from Dilantin which they had to increase to 4 a day instead of 3, and light bothering my eyes. ( big deal!!!). I feel so blessed and now have a different outlook on life as I did have something strange occur in the hospital... On Dec 4th I had an angiogram. They kept the shunt thingy in because they would need it the next day for surgery. I have Spondylitis, so my back hurt very bad from laying flat for so long. They gave me codeine. My hubby was there with me and I asked him for the bedpan. Well...the shunt started to burn so we buzzed the nurse and he said it looked ok. Just that moment, I told them I felt dizzy and at that moment, my heart stopped beating and they called code blue. I came back on my own just as they were preparing to use the paddles on me. At first they thought it was the codeine, but a cardiologist said it was most likely something called a vagus nerve response. Most likely from using the bedpan which can deplete oxygen to the brain from some nerve or artery. When I came home I had a flare of Spondylitis, but the mega steroids helped me with that. I am still taking things slow and my Mom is here to do any lifting for me. Heck, I even baked cookies for Christmas! I have this overwhelming feeling of love and happiness that I hope lasts forever. Hope all of you are well! Hugs for all! PS- Happy New Year!! And a healthy non-aneurysm one! Update: 29 Apr 2002 I am almost 5 months post op now. My surgery was on Dec 5th 2001. I have been off the Dilantin since March and found that I felt MUCH better being off it. It made me do a sidestep and feel a little off. I feel totally back to normal except my head is still extremely itchy and I get tired easily. I truly feel blessed and happy to be alive for my family. I have a protrusion on my forehead from the plate, lots of grooves and dents in my scalp and a section of 2 inch hairs growing back, but what a small price to pay to be alive! I wish you all the best and say my prayers for all faithfully. I am truly amazed at the fact that just about everyone I speak to knows of someone or has had a brain aneurysm or AVM themselves. I look at things differently now and seem to appreciate the little things more. Guess that was part of the lesson I was to learn. Update: 5 Nov 2003 As I approach my two year anniversary I must say things have been very good. I get some twinges and pains in the incision area but that is to be expected. Occasionally I get some bad headaches but I do have chronic sinusitis so I am attributing it to that. All in all, I am VERY happy I chose to have the clipping done and not just wait and have it monitored. I was very lucky to be given the chance to have the aneurysm clipped before rupture. If I had it all to do over again I definitely would choose the clipping. Life is good! Update: 15 January 2006 Hello everyone! I hope this New Year finds you all well. December 5th 2005 was my 4 year anniversary for my un-ruptured aneurysm clipping. I wasn't going to post an update because I really didn't have anything to write as I am still doing very well but I thought that a continuation of updates for a happy story would help those who may be going in for an un-ruptured clipping. As of my last update I mentioned some migraine type headaches. They have turned out to be age related as I am in the pre-menopausal stage of life. So, as far as the recovery from the clipping goes, I continue to do well with no symptoms. I was told after clipping that I need no further tests till the 5 year mark and that was for clinical study purposes so I'm not sure whether or not the surgeon's office will contact me to schedule an angio or if I need make the appointment myself. We shall see come December of 2006. As always, I continue to be here for anyone wanting info on what to expect after an un-ruptured aneurysm clipping. You are all in my prayers! Have a Happy and Healthy New Year! |
| My Brain Aneurysm Surgery Story |
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