Hi Nicole and welcome to BAF!
I see you live in Havertown, I live in Boothwyn, just on the I95 state line between Delware and Pennsylvania! I had a 9mm and 2mm annies found incidentially when I was admitted to the hospital for what I thought was a heart attack. Turned out I had a blood clot lodged in my left arm, but in checking me out from head to toe,the docs at Crozer Chester Medical Center found two annies in my left and right internal carotid arteries both at the ophthalmic artery. I was immediately transferred via ambulance to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for Neurosciences where I met the most incredible neurovascular surgeon, Pascal Jabbour. Dr. Jabbour and the neuro team at Jefferson are the best and TJH treats the largest combined volume of brain tumors, aneurysms and AVMs in the nation annually!
Having said that, once I was at Jeff, I was scheduled for an angio the next morning with a possible coiling. The doctor told me that clipping was really not an option for me due to the 9mm annie being too close to the optic nerve and the chances of him blinding me with the clip were very high. The 2mm annie wasn't even talked about since he said that it was too small and it was better to leave it alone until it grew to 5mm or above. My coiling failed, becuase once he was able toget a better look with the angio, he found the mouth of my annie to be huge. I was removed from the OR and sent back to my room, where Dr. Jabbour met with me and my family to discuss my options.
I had two options, 1 - there was a new FDA approved stent called the pipeline embolization device (or PED) which was basically a stent placed in the artery which would take over for the artery and divert blood flow away from the annie. My 2nd option was do nothing. Didn't have much of a choice at that point did i? Of course I opted for the PED and was sent home for 10 days and put on Plavix and 81mg of aspirin to get ready for the PED insertion.
Surgery day came 10 days later and I was in surgery for a little over 2 hours (which they told me was quick for the PED surgery) and was put into ICU for overnight. I have two PEDs telescoped to cover the mouth of the annie, that's how wide the mouth was!! Of course, everyone knows how much sleep you get in ICU when they are at your bedside every 5 minutes, and also, I was not allowed to move or the alarm on my bed would keep going off! Needless to say that was quite annoying!! It didn't matter thought becuase I was alive and I wasn't blinded by a possible clipping and the PED saved my life.
If your annie is in the internal carotid artery, or that area, might I suggest you speak to your surgeon about the PED and whether you are a candidate for it? It is less invasive -- it;s done via catheter through the femeral artery up to the brain.
I just wanted to mention the PED to you since you do have a young child and clipping surgery is very invasive surgery ( I Have a sister who had a clipping for an anterior communicating artery annie one year prior to my annie surgery). I do know that they only do the PED in the ICA area, and mine were both behind each of my eyes, and becuase it is realtively new a lot of surgeons are not familiar with it.
Although my PED surgery was a breeze and I have had a few ups and downs with migraines, it in no way compares to what people who have had clippings have gone through. I watched my sister for 3 months try to do basic tasks that took her a lot longer to do than her pre annie days. I would say two and a half years later, she would say she is about 90 percent back to her presurgery self.
Just wanted you to know that there are other options out there and maybe you can talk to your doctor about whether you are a candidate for something less invasive.
Best wishes and as everyone has said, better that you have found the unruptured annie. Keep postive thoughts and I will keep you in my prayers.
Linda