Hi All, I was diagnosed with 5 brain aneurysms in Jan of this year.
Two of them have been coiled and stented, one in March and the other in June, one of them was in the basilar tip (6mm) and the other Opthalmic (5mm) no side effects at all and they are now occluded as shown by a scan last week
The others are 1 x Left Side MCA (6mm) and 2 x right side MCA, 6mm and 11mm!
The decision that I now face is whether to have open surgery to fix the ones on the right side, both can be tackled at the same time as they are close together.
The 6mm one is straight forward a balloon type on a vessel, however the 11mm one is at a junction where 4 vessels meet, smack in the middle.
This one can only be partially clipped on one side and the walls of the other side repaired by muscle grafts.
Needless to say this open surgery scares me and I am battling to get my head around open surgery and its risks!
Do I fix them or leave them alone? as I have no symptoms at all!
Your input and advice will be greatly appreciated, as I need to make a decision!
kind Regards
Martin
Hello Martin,
To have been diagnosed in January with 5 aneurysms must've blown you away--wow! Glad to hear that you've had 2 of them dealt with with great results! The other three being in the same vicinity is what i'd think is 'good news' so that they may be taken care of with one surgery--ofcourse the open clipping/craniotomy has got to have you a bit dazed...I've undergone 2 clippings (1 in 98 the other in 2010, the 2010 job was to fix a compacted coil that i'd received in 2006 after rupture/coma) ...your remaining annies though sound more complex then what my clippings entailed, the thing is that (in my perspective at least), having the clip surgery is considered to be the 'gold standard' when dealing with aneurysms, thus giving you a much more permanent fix.
The risk of growth is what usually is considered a red flag as growing annies' are the ones at risk for a catastrophic rupture...and nobody wants to go thru that. I think that if you're highly satisfied with your Neuro team and their solution to this problem, i'd schedule the surgery for the clip...and if you're hesitant at all then perhaps another opinion is in order (?)
Do aneurysms run in your family? just curious, but i'd say intervention is necessary on your end for the peace of mind it hopefully will bring you (Sounds funny to say that open brain surgery is a recipe for 'piece of mind', I know it really was in my case)! Peace to you as you grable with such a major decision, I know this can't be easy! Janet
Hi Janet, Thank you for your kind reply, it is appreciated. I have no family history at all so this is new for me alone.
The remaining 3 will require two separate procedure's, one procedure to fix the 2 the Right side MCA's so I am focussed on that one at the moment, the small one 6mm seems easy to clip, the 11.5mm one is the bugger at a junction, which worries me!
Probably the biggest thing that worries me is someone cutting a hole in my head, and the unknown effects after surgery, particularly as I have no symptoms at all at the moment.
Hence me asking the board to share with me their experiences, coiling and stenting is a breeze, I know as I have had 2 proceedure's so far this year.
I guess, just like everyone who faces this choice, it is a case of the unknown and managing to handle it, hence my post asking for people with past experiences of open surgery to share them with me.
As for coiling, that was a breeze for me and accordingly where possible, I would recommend it, but unfortunately, that is not always possible in all instances.
I am still thinking, perhaps too much, but am leaning towards surgery.
Thank you for your kind reply and considerations.
Kind Reply
Martin
Yes the thought of someone literally sawing away to gain access to our brains is more then disconcerting, ain't no lie there ! lol I was fortunate that on my first clipping in 1998 I had no choices given to me as coils/stents were too new in the US at the time, plus mine was done in a semi emergency fashion and I only had maybe 12 hours between diagnosas to surgery--not much time to dwell,, yay! on both my clippings, I was amazed at the recovery or amazed at how well I felt I guess is more the 'amazement' part. My 2nd clipping was truly inspirational to me, as my surgeon gave me such precision-like, small and perfect sutures ( a lady I was next to an elevator told me that at first she thought I had some fort of odd tattoo on my skull--she gasped when she realized they were stitches!) and on my 2nd clipping recovery I walked around the 1.7 mile reservoir near my house on my 2nd day home, plus I was driving within a week and a half! Never a headache on either afterward. Take care Martin, Janet
Hi Janet, Your reply and content is inspirational to me, I guess the biggest issue that I have is that I am whole and functional today, I do not even feel these little buggers in my head.
The surgeon is one the of the best in the UK, so I guess it gets back to me getting my head around the hole in the head bit!!!
I think that the more I way up the issue and the risks of doing it, as opposed to not doing anything about it and later having a popped little bugger, swings towards fix the buggers and be done with it!
Strange as it may seem but as an engineer, it makes sense, it is just the hole in the head bit that worries me.
So be it, as the song goes. Whatever will be, will be, the future is not yours to see..........
I will decide within the next week and keep you informed.
Thank you once again.
Martin