Hi Carrie,
Take 1 baby aspirin in the morning. That is 100mg. Maybe I bruise a little easier but cosmetic as small bruises don’t hurt at all. Keep an eye on my kidneys and drink a lot of water. Stopped drinking alcohol due to the headaches from the annie so my liver is good! For me the biggest concern would be possibly running out and not being able to get to a chemist to stock up.
I take 100mg Aspirin twice daily
I had a pipeline placed just 1week ago been overly tired and been experiencing this weird pain that I cant figure out were it’s coming from. It feels like it’s in my neck chest feels like a headache at times. On and off but very persistent. They dont tell you much of anything after discharge only what to look for incase you get a stroke. I’m on plavix and aspirin until doctor tells me. The aspirin is for life the plavix is for 6months. I have had about like 6 angiograms and I lost count of how many MRI MRAs. I had a SAH in 2016 an anerysum ruptured and that same vessel is continuing to be an issue for me my anerysum was clipped but apparently the vessel was still sick and it created another anerysum the stent was placed but couldn’t be coiled because it has 2branches that cant be blocked off. Not 100% that it will work but I’m optimistic and hoping it does because I’m exhausted.
Hi Merl,
I just had a meeting with my neurosurgeon and he said his recommendation of treatment is not changed. That means I should go with the procedures. He is going to do a float diversion/pipeline/stent treatment. His risk of the procedure is less than 1% while national average is 3-7%. The post surgery risk of bleeding is 3-7% statistically.
When I asked what might be the risk if I continue to observe? He said it is up to you to be comfortable but my recommendation is not changed. He did not give me a convincing explanation why he recommends the procedures.
He is the best neurosurgeon in my area for sure. So I do not want to lose him.
I still cannot make up my mind. I need help from you and other friends!!
Virginia
It’s really scary knowing what path to take. I feel for anyone who is in the position to make that life changing choice. My neurosurgeon said that the CTA that I had showed it was not in fact an aneurysm. It’s an abnormality and just to get scanned every few years. It boggles my mind because that was my appointment to schedule the surgery… My mom had a CTA a week prior to mine, and her neuro said her CTA was completely wrong. It showed she had coils and no other aneurysm. She has a clip and also another aneurysm. I plan to get a second opinion. How long have you been watching your aneurysm?
Thank you C for sharing your experience! My neurosurgeon has observed my two aneurysms for three years via MRA. There has been no change. I am struggling for a decision because my neurosurgeon is leaving. My aneurysms don’t give me symptoms thankfully.
I must make up my mind in one day or two!
Thank you again, Virginia
I think others may be able to weigh in more, however, if you have to have any follow up appointments, it’ll have to be with a different neurosurgeon since yours is leaving. I know in my mom’s case, I feel more comfortable being able to bring up any concerns with the man who did her surgery rather than someone else.
Hi CMartin! I had a pipeline stent in Dec. for a 5mm unruptured aneurysm. I was told to return to work after 2 weeks but my headaches and neckpain progressively got worse. I have made several attempts to return to work but my blood pressure escalated and have been on medical leave since March. I still have head pressure when and pain doing minor tasks. I will have a CT scan in June and will find out if it worked. With such a long recovery, I question everyday if it was worth it.
Hi chan273 - how you doing now? Hope you’re not:)
I just had a CT scan (after 6mo) and the good news is that the stent cleared the aneurysm. However, still dealing with neck pain/headaches and not feeling 100% yet. I have heard from others that it takes about 8mo plus to fully recover.
Hi CMartin,
Curious if you have made any decisions yet? Wish you the best luck.
With all my prior research, survival rate of waiting has a lot to do with the location, age, type (shape), and size + familial + health condition (smoking, underline disease, etc).
I spent about 9 months reading all kinds of articles that I could ever found, I watched tons of videos in clipping, pipeline, and stent from Youtube. I even went study the anatomy of a brain just to understand what the doctors were referring to, what complications any of the procedures might bring.
Therefore, once you are able to answer your queries, you might be able to ask your doctors the ‘educated’ questions! By saying that, I mean the questions which your doctors can not simply say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ without explaining things in details.
By the time I reached my final pick of a doctor, I asked my doctor if he’d be the one who pick/cut the veins in my brain since I knew he wrote a textbook about how to prune the veins (for craniotomy, doctors do need to prune the veins in order to make ways into the vessels. Some veins are ok to be cut off but not the others! :D)
I flew all over the places just to find the doctors I could trust — he knows I am not just a number in his stats, I have my issues of health, I need to know what might go wrong with the kind of body I bring to them!
Any doctors want good #s in their records, they want ‘successful’ procedures so the treatment plan starts with the assessment if we are good candidates to their skills/facilities. Don’t be discouraged if a doctor tells you he won’t do — pipeline, stent, craniotomy, etc. for you. Follow up with more questions like, 'Why don’t you recommend ---- ?" or “Why is =-=== good for me?” I had a famous doctor from Cedars Sinai hospital, he was quite frank — ‘Because craniotomy is a nasty thing to do.’
He was telling me the truth he believed because he is an expert in coiling. He favors coiling over any other types of treatment. However, in my ‘wide neck’ aneurysm of size 7-8mm left ICA behind my left eye, I won’t be a good candidate for coiling.
You are still young, please exhaust all the resources you can pull and take your time to make the best decisions suitable to your unique situation. Good luck!!