Good Morning Karolina! I have had several follow up diagnostic angiograms. I would usually get one six months after a repair attempt. To me personally, they weren’t much different than a repair except they’re much shorter in duration. To be honest, I don’t remember the endovascular procedure used when I ruptured. In total my neurosurgeon has been in my brain 7 times, I have an unusual type of multi- lobed aneurysm. It’s as stubborn as I am it seems.
Sorry to read about your issues, panic attacks can be quite debilitating, not to mention headaches and visual loss. You may not believe me when I say relaxation breathing can help with both panic attacks and headaches. The caveat is that you must practice the relaxation breathing all the time. Every day multiple times a day for as long as it takes you to master it. Hydration, protein and rest can help those headaches as well.
There’s a few things I have always done before an angiogram of either type. I hydrate well so the needles go in easier. I really want my veins and arteries to be the best I can get them and that takes proper hydration. Of the three arteries Dr. Q-W has used, they’ve all been tortuous (squiggly). I figure if I hydrate well beforehand, it makes it easier for her to guide the catheter through whichever one she uses. I’ve never asked her, but the RNs that stick me have appreciated it.
To get my mind off of having yet another procedure I would get what I call my house and House together. My last angiogram was in 2021 it’s been awhile. I’d do all the heavy cleaning (vacuuming, mopping floors, cleaning the bathrooms)and yard work so it wouldn’t need to be done for a bit after an angiogram. In 2016, we updated our wills before I had my 3rd repair attempt. Apparently our first wills weren’t worth the paper it was typed on. Yes, I do know people don’t want to talk about the negatives that can happen. But I don’t like to ignore them, angiograms come with risks we sign off on. I’m one of those people who likes to be prepared. I am not allowed to cook unsupervised so we would get easy to prepare lunches for me which meant sandwiches, salads, or something I could pop into the microwave. I’d have fruit available for my snacks and always protein drinks, protein bars and the inevitable amount of Gatorade I had to drink. I am allergic to the dye so I had to drink 3 of the large bottles and either two or three times that in water for numerous months after the procedure. I learned from members here that there’s other ways to get electrolytes which is why I would have to drink the Gatorade. By then, I’d learn which Gatorade flavors I preferred but it helps to have backups, right?
The House part is my spiritual beliefs so I check in with my Higher Power it brings me comfort and has a calming effect. I always asked for Presence for my surgical team. Selfish I guess, but I was always more concerned that my surgeon and her team was helped more than me. My thinking is strange, but if they’re covered I figure so am I. Right before my surgeon started I’d inquire if she slept well, ate something and went potty. One of the guys asked me why I asked her the same three things and i responded simple, would you want someone in your brain who was tired, thinking about that missed meal or doing a potty dance trying to navigate mountain roads to your brain? After that he always made sure she had something to eat and he told me he’d tell her to go potty which made everyone laugh. I missed that team when they changed out, I’d had them for 4 or 5 times. They played the type of music I liked before she came in, would joke around with me all of which helped to keep me calm.
One time she was late coming to the ball but I was already on the table ready to go. I’d been in the pre surgical unit for a very long time. She had an emergency come up. When she finally made it to the ball, she apologized for her tardiness and explained she had to operate on a 5 year old. I asked if he made it, he had! It made me happy. My career choice had been in CPS and I saw a lot of negative things happen to children, unfortunately some of them fatalities. The she looked at her team and told them something like “See, I told you she wouldn’t mind”.
Because of my allergies to the dye, I cannot have another angiogram unless it’s to save my life. I view that as a positive for me. I don’t allow myself to dwell on my aneurysm that doesn’t want to be fully occluded but for about 15 minutes a day. It is what it is to take a line from J. E. Lawrence. I can’t change the past but I can look forward in a positive way.
