Learning our arteries can be really challenging no doubt about that! Way back in the day our BioPsych Lab professor let us call it our “happy little dancing man”. Wouldn’t say the Professor over the Bio Psych classes appreciated it but it did help us learn the main ones. We also sang this song when we were tasked to ease Willis out of a sheep’s brain https://youtu.be/NM6I-pmV0RA?si=RZr_KZrOV4-8rc2X Of course my neurosurgeon had never heard the Circle of Willis called a little happy dancing man but laughed all the same once I started singing the song. I will try to find a YouTube video that better explains all the arteries as well as posterior, anterior etc. thanks!
Today is a big day for decisions. Remember to breathe and if you haven’t gotten to the doc’s yet have a list of questions for him. Of course you’ll be in my thoughts until tomorrow…
After both hubby and I completely stressed ourselves out over the weekend, created a long list of questions for either scenario and mentally prepped for worse-case scenario, my neurodoc walked in with a big, bright smile with his usual friendly disposition. He went right into the images to show us the annie in question and highlighted how much darker it is than the adjacent artery from the contrast dye. This is where I am extremely grateful to live in the city and have access to Medstar Washington Hospital Center… he noted that for every patient, he reviews their case with his 8-person neurosurgeon/neurologist panel of peers and he asks for each of their opinions. The resounding direction was for the option we didn’t think existed for me – WATCH it for a year! The aneurysm shows that is in “STASIS,” meaning that while it indicates filling, the fact that the contrast dye is “pooled” in the aneurysm suggests that there is very little flow within it and that it will likely naturally occlude on its own, given some time. You can find some studies online from NIH with the high percentage rate of occlusion of aneurysms in stasis… He also showed us the very occluded bigger annie on the left that you could barely see, since there was zero filling. So, I get to Pass Go this round!
Next Angiogram one year from now! I’ve never been happier to hear that all I need is a diagnostic angiogram again - despite my complaining.
Thanks again to everyone for your BAF love and support!
