Morning @rosie!
I am so happy to hear that you found someone you are comfortable with to help you moving forward. That matters more than anything else!!
My medical care is out of Philly, so I do not have any experience to share with Dr. Knopman. My super brief history is rupture, coils and then a stent put in a little later out (I had a Pipeline instead of an Atlas), and a whole lot of other drama in between.
- At least for me, I am on “baby aspirin for life!” Welcome to the club!
I also went on another blood-thinner (clopidogrel) for a month prior to the surgery and was on it for a few months afterwards until my aneurysm was declared occluded. This is known as DAPT for dual anti-platelet therapy.
Your medications of course may be different depending on how your body reacts. For me, being on the two, bruises were very common, and I also experienced a bad nosebleed (note it was also winter here on the East Coast so the air, of course, was very dry not like our humidity in the summer). I was able to get the nosebleeds under control by using a saline spray and that helped tremendously.
- Throughout my journey I have had a few MRAs and angiograms. Funny you should mention but I just scheduled my first “check-up” MRA (post-occlusion aka death of the aneurysm) for later this month. In my mind though, I - perhaps unfairly - liken MRAs to MRIs more than angiograms.
I appreciate that this comes from a provider, but I liked the layperson approach to the similarities and differences between MRAs and MRIs.
MRAs are definitely less invasive than angiograms, and - logically - it makes sense that a doctor would do those first to see if there is a real need to do angiogram since obviously that is more involved (the team’s schedule, your time, anesthesia, etc.).
In terms of having a stent, well, it is similar to having an angiogram. We do have some prior postings about stents, but I opted for this one but there are others out there too if you have some other question, as we talk a little bit more about the stent procedure generally, along with what discharge instructions are generally like.
Please let us know what questions you have or what we can do to help support you!
Fin Whale Fan 
P.S. Just for planning purposes, with the NYC/NJ area being in the thick of World Cup, just wanted to provide some links so you can plan appropriately since it may impact your visit.