I have my first visit with a neurosurgeon TOMORROW, in NY at NY-Presbyterian with Dr. Solomon. I am keeping a list of questions to ask about procedures, symptoms, & other questions. I am curious if anyone has any questions they had asked that they felt were helpful in their understanding of their aneurysm? I would greatly appreciate this for my visit tomorrow.
I have been through such a mix of emotions, mainly feeling a small weight lifted from my shoulders when I was able to book the appointment with the Dr as I had attempted multiple offices in the NY/Philadelphia region where we live with no luck until after the new year at best.
I still am besides myself at this point, but I guess that's the normal. I'm trying to think of my daughter, husband and family and the blessings they are in my life as well as the blessing of finding out about this aneurysm "early".
I wish all of you a wonderful day, thank you for reading and any help you can provide!
I had that very question when I was diagnosed with superior cerebella artery aneurysm off basilar…I found this site researching from my hospital bed, and glad I did, as everyone has been helpful, supportive and like a second family to me, even 1 1/2 yrs later! To answer your question, it was helpful to me to know where, how big, I had symptoms, you didn’t mention how they found it, is it symptomatic? Wait and watch or treatment needed? Treatment needed, coiling…less evasive or clipping, more permanent but more invasive. Depending on those answers, you will be recommended in what direction to take then you will know more. There will be more questions as you go along, just know that BAF is here to help in any way. God bless
Thanks so much for reading my discussion and your response, those questions/concerns are great ones to find out about.
I'm sorry I didn't give to much background information. I had a loss of vision in my L eye peripherally in a total span of 20 min from beginning to end over Labor Day weekend this year, went to the ER however it went away by the time I had gotten there, all test were negative for impairments in the ER however I didn't have a headache, didn't' have an MRI/MRA and did not have a carotid doppler. I had gone home, no real "headaches" but have always had sinus and tension headaches, which now I realize could be minor headaches from the aneurysm. And being that I'm in the healthcare field I always had an answer for something, which is not good!!. So since that incident, no others, thankfully, however I followed up with my new PCP and she recommended an MRI/MRA of my brain and arteries and this is where we discovered my new friend.
From the MRA, mine is in the "paraclinoid internal carotid artery" and measures from 1-2mm, and some FLAIR signals were present on the MRI, which I'm not too versed on so I will be asking about those as well.
This website has so much value that I've discovered in a short period of time, I had no direction but with reading about experiences, advice and support, I've found some strength and confidence that I can and we all can get through this together.
Good Luck on your appointment...keep us posted...and write down all your questions and please take along someone else for their eye's and ear's...
You can look at the "Mayo Clinic" site and type in Brain aneurysms ... it will go through a few pages ... the last page is "Preparing for your Doctor's appointment"...Some questions would be the 1. size of BA 2. the location 3. What can be done? 4. Why one procedure over another?
Cate, Dr. Solomon and Connolly are two of the best. Connolly did my clipping and you could not be in better hands than the neuro group at Columbia Presbyterian. I think the one thing I was not prepared for was lifestyle changes after surgery. I was asking so much about the surgery and what was going to be done and risks, etc. that I never even thought about how my life would change after the surgery, even successful surgery. All the best, Carol
Very wise of you to go prepared with a list of questions for the Neurosurgeon! If someone is able to attend the appointment with you, all the better, as when the Neurosurgeon is talking about YOUR brain, panic tends to sweep right thru us and out the window goes with what the Neurosurgeon had said!
If indeed the surgeon wants you to get this fixed right now...you'll want to know what the best procedure for your type of aneurysm is, and what the pro's and con's of these procedures are.you'll want to know if coiling or clipping or PED are methods that apply to your annie's fix (Some cannot be clipped due to the region in the brain, some can't be coiled due to an annie's wide necked structure, etc) Ofcourse some are in the 'watch and wait' category....but seeing that you've had some visual disturbances in the past...you may want to know if the location of your annie is what they think caused the visual problem--such as is the annie in the right spot to be considered the culprit ? You probably already know that clippings are much more invasive then vascular coilings...and clippings are almost always considered a done deal in terms of correcting the issue...yet clippings are much more invasive and the down time after surgery is quite a bit longer then most coilings are...coilings do have their problems however, as some coilings need to be re-addressed down the line (adding more coils) , and many have complaints of headaches afterward (I've had coiling done and had no headaches afterward at all--but mine 'compacted' after 3 years time, at which time i had the aneurysm clipped instead of having more coils added--I like the idea of the 'permanent fix' myself)
Keep in mind too Cate that a growing aneurysm , no matter how small it is, is one that is a concern and is more likely to rupture...as is one with jagged edges and/or ballooning. Whatever the method is, you'll want to know how long is your recovery going to take, how often will you need to come in for followup care (especially if you're in the watch and wait category) and will you get CT's or angiograms at specific intervals thereafter, etc. and one more thing, if you're unhappy with the neursosurgeoun or uncomfortable with him, seek out another opinion. Don't be too shy to ask him how many of what procedures he's got under his belt either.
Cate I wish you nothing but the best as you get thru all this, I know its no picnic, but its a blessing that they've found it. And if the anxiety of it all is getting to you--don't hesitate to ask for something to calm the nerves in the mean time, be it Xanax, Ativan, Valium etc. Take care, Janet
Cate, just checking to see how you are doing and how it went with Dr. Solomon. I have a feeling knowing him that you are scheduled for an angiogram :) I hope you had a bunch of your questions answered and that you liked him and he eased your mind. Carol