Thanks so much. The holidays have been good. Great to be with family and friends for an extended period of time - definitely don’t take that for granted. Hope You’ve enjoyed yours as well.
Yes, the online world is a pretty scary place - who knew? Not me! One of my neurologists prescribed a medication and told me DO NOT look it up online - you will hear all kinds of scary stories! Either the medicine will work or it will not and we will try something else! Wow!
I am trying positivity, but to be honest, on some days it is hard. People keep saying, oh I thought you had the less invasive surgery,why are you still having problems. Mostly, they ask my husband, not me. Close family, friends and even work colleagues have been supportive and I gather from this site, that I have time before I get back more of my independence and not be totally shut down by the headaches and dizziness (this is my 3rd month). No new surgery in sight - I pray that wont be necessary as I am finally being connected with some of the doctors and therapists that I need to see and that can (and are willing) to help me discover the deficiencies and fix them (or as I say, put Humpty-Dumpty back together again:-). Before I logged onto this forum, I thought something was wrong with me. My surgeons kept saying “You are fine”. Now I know that unfortunately, so many others suffer and are not heard by their doctors. I don’t understand why they tell us we are fine, when they must KNOW that we are not. I try to stay positive and look for new ways to tackle this “new normal”. That is what I fill my time with now as I strive to return back to what was a very active, independent (and some times stressful) life as a working wife and mom to a 5 year old…I’ve learned a great deal and recognize that life will look very different now, but I want to maximize the time that I have here to the best of my abilities…
I'm so sorry you are still having problems. No one can understand what you have been through and are going through unless they have been there. Doesn't matter whether you had the coiling or the clip - it still messes with your brain and the brain doesn't like to be messed with. I have been very fortunate and haven't had many problems but I pray for you to have the strength to keep fighting. I am sure it is very hard especially since your son is so young but the main thing is that he has you - no matter what you can or can't do. Stay strong! I'll be thinking of you.
I did not go there for my clipping, I was out of state at the time, but now I live real close to Dallas.Good to see UT Southwestern mentioned! I see a wonderful Neurologist there Deborah Friedmann for migranes. I really don't think the headaches are from my aneuryism? They run in the family, but I never had any till living with the after math of Hurricane Katrina in N.O.
Thank you for your positive, upbeat attitude!! Keep- it up!! Your brave, I ironically met someone right after my surgery who experienced the same doctor etc. She wanted me to take pictures but I wouldn't let her! LOL!
Thank you for this post. I have had the same experience, and it freaked me out and I stopped coming here. To help me, I've started a blog. My surgery is not until September, 8 months away. Now I wanted to share it with you. Thank you so much for your positive story. I will hold it close to me. Love and hugs to you and yours.
I read your blog - very interesting to say the least. The surgery REALLY wasn't that bad. I was scared to death. Scared mainly because I was unsure whether it would hurt and scared whether I would be the same when it was all over. I find it interesting that they are shaving your head. If you have looked at my pictures - they just shaved a line about 1/2 inch or so wide, did the incision and pulled the scalp back. I still have the scar and a little hair is coming back but the rest of my hair covers it up. Look at the bright side - people will know you have had brain surgery and be nicer to you :)
I know you are scared - I was too but my mom died of a ruptured brain aneurysm as did two of my uncles so I knew I was extremely lucky that they found it and knew I needed to have it clipped as soon as possible. I'm curious - why wait until September? Just remain positive that all will be ok - I think that is a very important part of the healing process especially.
Try to stay off of the websites that have people complaining so much. If you think about it - most of the people that haven't had problems move on with their life and don't look back or think about writing anything positive for those coming behind them. That was what motivated me most to write about my experiences. I found NOTHING positive on any website, just people wanting to connect with others that are having problems and that's ok because they need the support but for those looking for hope - it doesn't help. Feel free to contact me and let me know if you have any questions. I will be thinking of you! Jan
Thank you for sharing your post clip surgery experiences. It makes it seem less scary. My clip surgery that is in the same area is this Wed. Thanks again.
Hi, I'm so glad it helped. It really wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I had surgery on my foot earlier that year and it was harder to recover from it than from the aneurysm. Hope yours goes smooth!
Wow Jan I hope and pray my surgery goes as good as yours. I am waiting 3-4 possibly 6 months for a clipping of a 9x5 annie. I am trying to stay positive. Actually I have had a death in my in law family so am concentrating on that at the moment and trying not to think about brain surgery. My biggest fear is that I will have complications as at the moment I do not have any symptoms. My annie was caught as a result of dizziness that I have been told is not even related to an aneurysm, go figure, and I am just lucky I caught it.
Anyway just wanted to say thanks for the positive post, it is welcomed as some on here scare me to death.
I'm sorry for your loss. Try not to think of all the complications or read all the stories on here - think positive. Most people that have theirs clipped leave this blog behind them and don't come back to say "it wasn't that bad". You are very lucky they caught your aneurysm in time to fix it. I had to make the decision to have it clipped or just have it monitored but brain aneurysms run in my family so I took the plunge and so glad I did. Now it's all behind me. Another lady I have been talking with went through years of MRI's monitoring hers, now she has had it clipped and is amazed that they don't need to do any more MRI's or monitor her. It's very liberating. I will think positive thoughts for you. If you have any questions or concerns, I'll be happy to help. I really am fine today and glad I had it done!! Take care. Jan
Ha! That would be me wouldn't it Jan lol! Yes Brenda, we had been watching my aneurysm since 2003 and I had it clipped November 7th, 2013. Thanks to Jan, I had a story to hold onto that gave me hope as well as an idea of what to expect. Soooo grateful to Jan for that! Had a ton of praying friends too! Very blessed! My friends and family were astounded at how well I was after the surgery. No more MRI's or CT's and I don't get retested for 10 years. Can you believe it??? Hope all goes well for you! Carol
Thanks Jan and Carol for the positive words. As I mentioned this is somewhat of a fluke and just glad that I caught it. I do have a 21 year old daughter but the Neurosurgeon told me she didn't have to worry about this, however, the more I read tells me they may run in families. 5 kids and two parents and I seem to be the only one but who really knows unless you have an MRI?? Needless to say I will be glad when it is all behind me and I have my blog on here saying how well I did.
Hey Carol, yes that would be you!! Brenda, I know it is scary but look at Carol and I - we're both fine as can be. I'm glad you are going to blog on here, we need lots and lots of positive stories to share. So glad they found yours! I have three brothers and none of them have an aneurysm either. Guess they are drawn to the good brains - haha Take care of yourself and try not to read too much. Go in with a positive attitude, you can beat this!!
Yes Brenda, they found mine on a fluke too about 11 years ago or so. We did CT's/MRI's every six months for the first couple years, then every year, then every other year. This time, they felt I should do the surgery and it turned out to be a very good thing as the aneurysm had a weak spot where it grew another aneurysm on top of itself. This wasn't seen on any of the tests and they didn't find out until they were in the middle of surgery.
As for my family members having aneurysms and the theory of it running in families??? I just don't know about that one. I'm the youngest of my siblings and the only one to have an aneurysm. I believe my children, siblings and parents have all had MRI's and no one else has one. Their theory now is that I was born with a weak spot that grew weaker in my twenties. Hard to know what caused it since there are so many theories out there and the theories certainly have changed over time. Maybe it's what Jan said... Aneurysms are just drawn to great brains lol!
I'm doing great!! It is amazing to me that less than a year ago I wasn't even aware that I had an aneurysm and today, it's clipped, healed and life is good. I have two things that I feel are a side effect of the surgery and nothing major at all. When I am under stress or have a really tight deadline where I'm focusing really hard on getting something done, the area where the aneurysm was clipped twinges a little - sort of like a very small electrical impulse - it's strange. Not painful, just reminding me it's there. The other thing that happens from time to time, I lose the word I want to say - again, usually under stress or pressure. Like if a car pulled out in front of me and I had to really step on the brakes hard, if someone asked me what happened I wouldn't be able to say the "car" pulled out in front of me. I would stumble on the word car - just for a moment. Other than that - no problems at all. A very small price to pay I would say. How about you? How are you doing - back to work and back to normal? Anything unusual? Almost 5 months for you. You had your surgery on my daughters birthday and my mom's birthday. She is the one that had the aneurysm. Thanks for asking!
Doing well too! Loving being home on this stormy but beautiful day! And I'm still amazed that there no longer is a time bomb in my head. What a blessing! I forgot my surgery date was your daughter and mom's birthday! Going to try and get some actual work done finally... Have a great weekend!