About 20 years ago my father had an aneurysm rupture and clipped. They also found 3 other aneurysms and those are monitered. He has come to have a normal life and within the last 10 years has been able to return to work. Due to the steroids he was on while incapacited with his aneurysm he also had to have both hips replaced.
In October of last year my mother had an aneurysm rupture and had it coiled.
From what Ive learned it is quite rare to have both parents with ruptured aneurysms. My mothers neurologist has been great in guiding myself and my sister with what we need to do. My sister has been screened and nothing was found. I have yet to be screened but will be doing this soon as if I have any aneurysms all of our children will also need to be screened.
If an aneurysm is found it will need to be coiled. They say there are no ifs, ands or buts about this.
I am glad that this support system is here and I have found alot of comfort and experiences shared here. Some of this is scary to me but seeing all the survivor stories gives me hope in what I may have to go through.
My husband is an over the road truck driver and it scares me I could have a problem so serious while he is gone.
Thank You all for being here and my prayers are with all of you.
WOW - it must be quite unnerving to know that both of your parents have had ruptured aneurysms. It does appear that you have pretty strong nerves otherwise- the picture of the snake coiled around you!
How is your mother doing?
I will pray that you will get good news when you have your tests. Do you have a back-up support plan in place to get emergency services should something happen to you while your husband is away?
Welcome Sarah. You have found a great place to find support and I wish you well on your journey through this all.
Wow is all I can say about both your mom and dad having ruptures. And I thought I knew alot about aneurysms from my family. My mom has had two clipped prior to rupture (1990/1995) and my father has had one sister pass away from a rupture and two living with multiple aneurysms. He has been screened and is ok. My sister has been screened as well and is ok.
I found out I have one aneurysm that will be clipped May 30. I am scared but thankful to have control over the situation and fix it before a rupture.
Be sure to keep us posted and I hope everything comes back fine and you don’t have to worry. But either way, you will find lots of support and encouragement here.
My husband travels often ... and I found getting a medical bracelet helped me feel more secure...so if you end up having a brain aneurysm ... you may want to get a bracelet and this way if anything should happen...you will feel the security of knowing that this is the first thing EMT's look for on a person...
Gotcha in my Thoughts on your upcoming screening ~ Colleen
I was thinking about your being alone and wanted to follow up with you re: preparedness.
Have you already identified a hospital with a 24 hour neurosurgeon that you could go to in an emergency? Do you have an EMS or ambulance service in your area that you could provide with critical info so that they would know how to help you?
For example, I live in a major city in a gated townhouse. Since, it would be difficult for anyone to get to me during an emergency, we took advantage of a service that our fire department offers which provides special access to them during an emergency. Perhaps there is something like this available to you.
Hi Sarah. My what your family has been through, so sorry. Glad you are willing to be screened. My family all has PKD (a potentially deadly kidney disease) and apparently annie’s are more common in PKD patients. I’m the only one who didn’t get it so was able to give my brother a kidney. Funny thing is so far I’m the only one with an annie. Some of my family has been screened but some are reluctant. I can understand, denial or what you don’t know won’t hurt you…? I think it’s better to know but is a scary thought. Best wishes to you and your family. Mitch
I think the bracelet would be a great idea. We dont have the most informed doctors around where I live. I had one Dr. tell me if I had an aneurysm I would know it and there was no point in screening and when my dad had his aneurysm they told him he had a really bad headache. I think Ill definitely be getting one.
Hi Carole, I will have to look into the emergency services around here. I kind of live in the middle of nowhere and they recently changed our road name so its hard to find. Even UPS cant deliver our packages and it doesnt show up on GPS. Im at home with my 4 year old during the day and I have tried to teach him as much as I can about calling 911 and what the address is and how to talk to them but I think finding which service would be responding might be a good way to go at things. Im hoping to set up my screening soon as we will finally have health insurance kicking in soon.
My Mom is doing well but has her days that she just needs to lay down and rest. Her husband was just hospitalized with congestive heart failure and this has not helped with her stress and blood pressure levels.
Sometimes it seems if its not one thing its another with my family.
Thank you for your concern and ideas. I will definitly look into this.
Its great that you can be preventative on your aneurysm. Right now I have to take a deep breath everytime I start to feel a headache coming on as I have daily headaches anyway. I have had other family members also have aneurysms but have not been blood related. My grandmother actually had an aortic aneurysm that was caught and repaired. It may not have been a brain aneurysm but does show a pattern in family history in the weakening of vessel walls.
Thank you for your support and I will keep everyone updated on what happens
I've worn a Medic Alert bracelet since 1970. My mother got it for me shortly after my annie was repaired. Of course, I've had to upgrade it several times since then as new issues and information has become available. :-)
Since I've traveled extensively during the past 15 years (sometimes as much as 50% of the time) and often flying internationally and unaccompanied, having a bracelet on and visible gave me a sense of confidence that someone would be able to identify the need for help and get additional information should I have a problem. I give thanks to God that I've never needed to "use" the bracelet for this purpose.
Recently, I added the Medic Alert banner with the contact phone number and my ID as wallpaper on my cell phone and iPad.
One thing that has given me the most confidence is that I've worked with my doctors to refer me to other neurosurgeons when we've moved. This was to assure that there would be an identified hospital to go to and neurosurgeons familiar with my case who could be called in case of an emergency. The purpose being to minimize the likelihood of misdiagnosis or losing precious time.
The fire department access box is the most recent addition to help get aid quickly aid for either me or my husband should there be an emergency.
Thats so great you were able to give your brother a kidney. My grandmother passed away from kidney failure in October of 2010.
Of course Im nervous about screening but I also have to think about my children and my nephews because depending on my results they too will need to be screened.
Hello Sarah!I was reading your story and just wanted to touch base with you. I live in Oakland ME! I can understand your concern with spending time alone. I work the 2 to 10 shift at the elementary school here in Oakland and I spend quit a bit of time alone at night. Sometimes I get a little nervous, well a lot nervous, working by myself since I have been diagnosed with 4 aneurysms. 3 have been coiled and a stent placed the other just monitored. Have you been screened yet? My first 10mm annie was found with an MRI while looking for something else. It took an MRA to find the 5mm annie and an angiogram to find the 2mm. A post-op Angiogram revealed the 4th tiny annie. I had an attempted clipping for the first one found but it failed so the sent me to TUFTS in Boston for coils as no one in Maine does coiling anymore. That may have changed since my surgeries in 08 and 09. It may be wise to check into what Maine offers for treatment now, just in case! I saw Dr. Jeffery Floorman in Portland to the crainiotomy and Dr. Adele Malek in Boston for coils. If you would ever like to talk my number is ■■■■■■■■ maybe we could get together some time. we are only 20 minutes or so apart! Take care of yourself (((HUGS))) Cindy