I am new here and I am terrified! Nine years ago an annie was discovered in my brain. It was coiled at Jefferson in Philly and all went well. In 2022 I had a stroke and a stent was put in.
I went for my routine MRA and then had to have a diagnostic angiogram. I visited my neuro for the results on that and now I’m terrified. I’m told my annie continues to grow - and I now have a blood clot in my brain. It appears to be dissipating but the Annie continues to grow. Any procedure they might be able to do is too risky. We just have to watch it. I did ask if I am at risk of rupture. She said yes, but it’s very low.
Now I’m not only walking around with the annie but a blood clot as well.
Most people do not understand what this is like. There are no outward signs that they can see. I’m told not to worry about it.
Thanks for posting Ms, Jackie! My, oh my, what a trial you’ve been dealing with! I can hear my Dad now saying “Dang girl, do you always have to do things the hard way?” Ok, he didn’t say “dang”, can’t type what he did say, but it’s close enough.
Unfortunately, one of the downfalls of coiling is compaction. Stents usually rectify the issue, oddly enough they use more coils with the stents. I have a lot of coils, a lot, four procedures gifted me with them. Some members get another stent placed. I think one member had three placed for just one aneurysm.
A couple of questions if I may, do you recall the location, shape and size of your aneurysm? Some areas are much harder than others to repair, some shapes are harder as well. Sometimes size matters says the literature but it’s more of a curiosity for me, I ruptured with a small 5mm multilobe one. Was the stent placed for your aneurysm? Stents can be used for clearing a pathway and not rerouting away from an aneurysm. I also think it’s unlikely that every Neurosurgeon can know about every stent now being made. Is “Neuro” your Neurologist or Neurosurgeon? Who is telling you not to worry? Is it your doctor, family or friends? Dr. Q-W has never told us not to worry, never, ever. She does get a bit frustrated with me and has asked me to help her out. I think she meant by following all the rules, especially the weight one. I ignore them if they don’t fit the life I want. She gets it. She knows I’m not about quantity, it’s all about quality for me. Both my parents died in their mid 80’s, I’ve had relatives on both sides live to be closer to 100 or past. If I live as long as my great aunt I need to smoke a pipe, drink a shot of whiskey and a cordial glass of homemade Italian red wine. I can’t get any homemade Italian wine, so I don’t see 113 in my future.
As for risks, there’s a plethora of them, more so as we age and develop other health issues. I can’t remember but I think it was after my third coiling attempt with the balloon assist that I asked Dr. Q-W if she was going to be operating on me when I was 80 and she assured me she would not, risks would be too high and she’d leave me alone. My response was probably “Thank God! I really like you but we do need to stop meeting like this.”
