I’m asking this because I will be having the clipping procedure done. I want to know all details. Please don’t leave anything out. I want to know how you felt going into the procedure. I want to know how you felt when you first woke up. I want to know how many days you stayed in the hospital. I want to know how the hospital stay was. I want to know how your recovery was when you went home. I want to know how long it was till you could first wash your hair. I want to know if you hit difficulties. I know some of these are silly questions, I just want to know literally EVERYTHING.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Hi Ellen,
I had a left middle cerebral aneurysm clipped this past November 20th. It was a 5mm on the bifurcation area which is like a v shape (two smaller arteries coming out of the main). I tried to stay very positive and I have to say the closer I got to surgery the more calm I felt. I had a lot of people praying for me and I knew I had a very good surgeon and was at the right hospital. When I first woke up I was elated because I heard the staff around me and I thought to myself that the surgery must be over. I kind of said to myself, you just had a thought, yay my brain works and I can move. I didn't have much pain and went off the pain medication a day and a half later. I had no appetite so I didn't really eat that much while in the hospital. My hospital stay was great, when I rang for a nurse they almost came immediately and nothing was too much trouble for them. They were all very nice and accomodating. I had a bit of a complication following the angiogram to make sure the clip was in the right place, I developed a blood clot in the femoral artery and had to have surgery in the groin within a few hours (same day) to remove it. I was in the hospital two extra days (a total of 5-1/2 days) because of that but it really wasn't bad.
The recovery at home went well. I had no headaches and after the first week I wasn't exhausted in the evening. I hardly took naps, maybe twice. I was really pleased with the recovery. Some people complain of loud noises or bright lights having an effect but I had none of that. I had to move slowly mostly because of my leg bothering me from the surgery. Your head will feel numb and a bit swollen. I would advise that you use ice packs, some say the gel packs work good. I'm 3 months post surgery tomorrow and I have to say my head still feels a little numb. If a storm is coming or colder weather my head seems to feel tighter than usual but even that is becoming less of an issue.
I took a shower and washed my hair in the hospital the morning I came home. You have to let it dry naturally but I put a little mousse on the ends to tame it a little because my hair is frizzy. The nurse walked in right when I was doing that and got very excited because you're not supposed to put anything on your hair. I think I was more worried how my hair looked then anything else.
Ellen I'm sure you will do very well. You're a lot younger than me and you will probably heal so much faster. I did lose weight before the surgery and built myself up with extra vitamins which I feel really helped in my recovery. I hope this is helpful to you and like I said try to keep all negative thoughts away. If I had one I started thinking about something that makes me happy. I'm so glad I had the surgery and am now annie free. You'll be glad afterwards I'm sure. I'm sending you well wishes and praying for an excellent recovery for you. Take care,
Bonnie
Bonnie- I really appreciate you telling me everything! I. Glad everything went well minus the a angiogram. But thank you for telling me everything.nit puts me at ease. And is greatly appreciated.
You are so welcome! I'm happy to help others if I can. This is such a wonderful site, it really helped me get through the whole process. As you know it seems the doctors don't tell you much what to expect about anything. You would think they would have a publication readily available at least with restrictions prior to the surgery. My first doctor told me to just keep my blood pressure down, that's it. I went to a Zumba class a few months before surgery and wondered to myself if I should be doing this. The next time I went to that doctor he told me that if I was doing something and my heart was pounding and head was throbbing to stop immediately doing whatever I was doing. You definitely have to be your own advocate. I received a wealth of information from this site and I so appreciate that. Again take care and good luck!
Hi Ellen,
I had my clipping on the 17th of last month. like you I was scared leading up to the operation. I did a lot of praying and took some meds to help me not freak out. Before my surgery the doctor gave me something to relax me. That helped. We I woke up I remember being very sick. I keep trying to throw up and that hurt my head. After they gave me something for the nausea. I began to feel better. They moved me to iCU and they kept asking me where I was and what day it was. I really didn't want to talk. My mouth felt funny. To tell the truth at first I thought that I couldn't talk but I did. I was very thirsty but they only let me have ice chips. I remember them saying my blood pressure was high so they put me on medicine for that. The first night I only slept two maybe three hours at a time. The next day my pressure was good and I was moved to a private room. My left eye began to swell very bad and I had to wear an oxygen mask to help the swelling go down. On the third day my doctor asked if I were ready to go home. My eye had gone down and all of my vitals were good. The doc said that I was doing remarkably well.I was scared I thought that I wasn't ready but after I got home I felt fine. I have three kids. That first week I jumped back in to my regular house hold routine. BIG MISTAKE!! After one week of this I began to get terriable headaches. I told my doctor and he asked what I had been doing and I told him. He told me that I was doing too much. The headaches were telling me I was doing too much. So I let my mom come over to help. She cooked, cleaned,did the laundry and took care of me for two weeks. The headaches stopped. Now I am slowly doing things on my own. My only complaint is that I get tired easily I have to take a nap practicly everyday. Oh and my head is still numb in a spot. I am black so I normally wash my hair every two weeks. But I have dissolvable stiches so I have washed it three times this month. I also have to wash my stiches twice a day with baby shampoo or dial soap. They are just about gone. Oh yeaah there is one other thing It happens when I sneeze, cough, or laugh really hard my head pops!! Its sooooo weird. I read some where that this is normal. Might have been on here some where. But I will ask my doc anyway next week. Well that's my story. I hope I didn't freak you out. I wish you the very best of luck and that your surgery will be a success! May God bless you and watch over you. Valerie
(please excuse my spelling)
Thank you for sharing literally everything! It truly does mean a lot! Thank you thank you!
Hi Ellen !
I'm so glad to hear you've schehuled a clipping as I've been following your other post about your eyesight issues and I'm relieved that you're going in the right direction. I've had two clippings, one in 98 at age 36 for a surprise aneurysm so I didn't have to wait for surgery too long, the doctors were getting nervous as an aneurysm was growing quickly and had pressed so hard on my 3rd cranial nerve that the optic nerve literaly snapped as the annie pushed it out of the way and by that point my left eye was non reactive to light and had no muscle control, and had extreme double vision So thats what brought me into the hospital to begin with. I was shocked that the docs were too nervous to even move me to the county hospital as they feared a rupture any minute (no insurance) but i got fortunate in that I got to stay and the clipping was performed at 6AM sharp the next day. So I had the clipping done n the 18th and was released on the 22nd..The recovery of the suery was alittle harder on me since I'd had such a close call with the optic nerve, so me and a lighted room or sunshine was hard to take for at least the 1st week or so, plus the double vision was still firmly there and that didn't resolve itself for 3 to 4 months. The other thing that wasn't cool is the doctors had cut thru my jaw muscle so I couldn't open my mouth to eat anything substantial other then yogurt and more yogurt but little by little I was able to get more ability and wrench my mouth open ..that resolved itself within abut the 3 rd month...I had big staples in my head insteaf of stitches , and even after they were removed i still sound it hard to sleep on my left sie and didn't for a year or so, and the numbness in my head/scalp was pretty marked and the doctor didn't know if I'd ever be able to feel much sensation there (I still have somel numbness on that side on top and that was 15 years ago)...Other then all that, my recovery went well and hair grew back in and I finally looked normal within 4 months ..In 2006 I suffered an SAH , was in a coma for 6 weeks and awoke with a shunt, coils, trache & feeding tube but I was SO lucky and sprung out of that hospiital within a week of coming to, with just some right sided weakness t deal with..the shunt got infected and I landed back in the hospital for three more weeks of them trying to rid the infection but it wasn't going anywhere, so finally it was determined that maybe I could live with out the shunt afterall -- and fortune was on my side and goodbye shunt. No more problems for three years, and in 2010 the coils compacted which brought me back to the hospital...I didn't like nor have much faith in my current doctor at the time, he fially threw his hands up and told me he couldn't really tel what was going on with me as there was "too much dried blood" or something he said, and told me to go home and come back to him in 3 weeks for followup. That remark was my ticket to ride, so we gathered up the CD of my films and went right to another (better) hospital and they took me right in...they have clearer imaging equipment and decided that yeah, the coils were a wreck and if I wanted they could re-coil them but a clipping would be better they thought and I jumped at the chance ! This clipping surgery was so different than my 1st one in every way, and it was so much easier to recover from. The doctor didn't cut thru my jaw muscle so that was a huge plus! Also since I didn't have the optic nerves in a bind, than there was no rproblem with lights afterward or double vision, and the doctor used regular stitches (this doctor must be a seamstress on the side, my stitches were so perfect and tiny that another woman in an elevater I was in thought I had a tattoo on my head and didn't realize they were stitches) I could even sleep on my stitched up side with the stitches intact and it wasn't uncomfortable at all ! One thing I do remember that I thought was pretty amazing at the time was, when I awoke in recovery and I was talking to my doctor, I noticed not actual hard core pain but if was enough for me ask to him if i could have more pain medication..The doctor totally surprised me and told me no -- that I couldn't have any at all for the 1st several hours after surgery as he wanted to see where I was at with the pain in order to judge the results of my initial recovery and of the surgery itself. I was in awe and remember thinking to myself that this surgeryy wasn't so bad and that the body really does compensate for pain since I'd just been in a major surgical event and was doing it without the help of pain medication! He assured me I'd get some pain medication when it was "time" though and I just drifted off to sleep. I awoke in my room later on and I was fine, I could have pain meds by then and my head was wrapped in a big bandage..the next day I was shocked when they told me I could go home ! and I was ready ! The 2nd day home I even felt good enough to walk around the 1.8 mile reservoir by my home, and I was drivnig within a week and a half. You'l get the standard bruising on your face and it' may look like a good shiner, but that went away in no time. I washed my hair when I got home, super gently, but it was easy. I remember someone on this site saying it might be a good idea to get a pedicure done before the your hospital stay,, and I agree. Also make sure you shave your legs up good and bring some lotion as well as it can get dry in the hospital. I'm sure you'll do just fine and I'll have you in my thoughts and prayers for an uneventful surgery and an easy , fast recovery Ellen, Peace to you! Janet
Thank you so much Janet!! All this detail meant a lot to me!
No problem Ellen! Hey when is your clipping date? And i'm curious about your eyesight issues--what did the doctor say about that, and which artery is your aneurysm located? Janet
deal with your emotions and fears as they come.
the worst parts for me - drain tube felt like a clump of bloody hair to me and I kept trying to pull it off. It was a while before I was able to wash hair
i kept trying to get out of bed in the middle of the night - they had to restrain me for a couple nights
when they remove the staples it will hurt - i do not remember having too much pain other than that, i had a lot of discomfort
I was in the TBI ICU for 2 weeks and then a regular room for about 5 days. you have to stay until you can walk down halls and go to bathroom on your own
when you get home be prepared to sleep more than you want. i had to be awoken every 4 hours to take meds, after about 2 weeks i was able to set alarm and do it myself
i had to be watched 24/7 when i came home from hospital. I would wake up in middle of night and pace
make sure you have someone to keep an eye on you for at least 10 days
watch out for the drugs, you will need them but you will go thru withdrawal
I have a dent on my right temple (and I think that may be common)
put vitamin E or something similar on your scar to stimulate the follicles (after about 8 years I started losing hair along the scar. Not fun
most importantly - take as much time as you need for recovery
i no longer have much patience and suffer from anxiety
I only remember obscure details from the week after surgery - most of first month was a blur
You will look like shit when you first wake up, thankfully the pain meds and xanax help you not care so much
I wish you the best and will let you know if I have any more tips/info for you
As of right now my clipping date is may 20th. My doctor told me it could be the aneurysm pressing in that area maybe. And I was diagnosed with a Left Paraclinoid Cerebral Aneurysm
Thank you so much for your information! It’s greatly appreciated 
..Wow Lynn, sounds like you went thru the ringer when thry clipped you! Was your clipping done due to an SAH or was yours a scheduled clipping? Hope you are well, Janet
hello Ellen, in the days before my surgery i was so freaked out, and very nervous. while waiting to go back i had friends and family waiting with me. my husband was by my side most of the time. looking back i would have asked them to give me something or knock me out before taking me to the operating room. i think that was unnecessary and freaky. i just want you to know thats about all i remember until 2 days later. they will keep the pain down as long as you tell them your pain level. i dont remember but they said i would say mine was a 4 lol. i went home 4 days later, but they sent me home with a mild fever. DONT LET THEM DO THAT TO YOU. after about 5 to 10 days my husband helped me wash my hair. my case is unlike most, i had a total of 4 brain surgeries and a fake bone flap. i will say a prayer for you.
Ellen...welcome and I think you are getting tremendous responses...likely many more...
You have no silly questions...now, my only one to you is, in which artery/segment is your aneurysm located?
Bonnie noted MCA...
My strong personal interest is based on my experiences of coiling vs open surg/clip. My greatest regret is having been coiled. My aneurysm was off the internal carotid artery (ICA), supraclinoid segment near the posterior communicating artery branch. I know a number who selected surg/clip for this area...however, the coiling is, has been, highly promoted/recommended for this area.
The access sites can/may vary...from those I have had the privilege of meeting/ knowing...When I was unable to return to work after minimally invasive coiling, I/my office, learned from a woman across the hall, that she had had open surg/clip decades earlier; almost impossible to see the access site in her skull that she showed to us... We also have members here who had their surg/clip in 1969 and 1995...likely, many more by, between, and after those years...like the one across the hall.
Prayers surround you...those who have responded have had grand experiences and results...so delightful to read... expect you will have many more.
Pat
Thank you very much
Thank you And I was diagnosed with a Left Paraclinoid Cerebral Aneurysm
Hi Janet
I walked in my local ER with a bad headache and they sent me to Yale NH Hospital via ambulance for surgery If I waited any longer I would not be here.
And yes, It sure felt like I went through the ringer.
Lynn