Unruptured small aneurysm seeking advice

thanks jaycee for directing me where to post!! Hi everyone!! I was recently diagnosed with a 2.5mmx 4mm unruptured aneurysm in the right internal carotid artery. I am to have a pipeline device on sept. 30th. I am really scared! I am a nurse which believe me makes it so much worse. I am so worried about bleeding out or my stent clotting, i know, both sides of the coin here. I was reading some really scary stories on here. Has anyone had the same thing, unruptured and pipeline and could share their story. I make myself eat because I am just that full of anxiety these days. thanks to all who respond

Hi and Welcome Tanya...!

Just responded on your page...Talk to your Doctor and see if he/she can give you some for the anxiety...keeping calm is so important...then I found walking the dog (sometimes 4 times a day) helped with the stress...it is natural to be scared...but keep yourself around those who love you ... and know you have my prayers... Cyber ~ prayers and healing thoughts your way...Colleen

Hi Tanya,

I too have an unruptured annie on the right internal carotid artery, it is compressing the stalk of my pituitary gland also.

I am having my angio on friday next week to determine whether it will be coiled or whether it will need to be clipped. Obviously I've got my fingers crossed for the coil!

Although I can't reassure you as Ive get to go through it, I can certainly relate to the anxiety. I can't sleep, can't eat properly and my six year old must think his mum has turned into some kind of a monster!! Its got so bad that Ive decorated the whole downstairs of my house this week!

You're in my thoughts and let me know how you get on xx

Kerry xx

kerry,

thank you for responding and I am also going to be in prayer for you. Did your doctor mention the pipeline device? I am just curious as this is what my doc in st.louis mo has decided for me. I am hoping someone will share their story of a similar nature for us. I was furthering my nursing career and had to stop and now i am just working full time. i have a 13 year old son and a 21 year old daughter still at home along with my 2 grandbabies that i love very much. my husband is supportive. i will be anxious to see how you are doing. prayers for you kerry

thanks colleen!!! i am certainly trying. i believe in God and read my bible alot and pray for strength. again, thanks for your comment

Hi Tanya and Welcome!

I had a 9mm right ICA ophlthalmic annie stented with the pipeline stent in June 2011. I have posted my stories in the forum, a blog and I also have a group called pipeline embolization device which you should read. There are not many of us that have the pipeline as it's so new here in the US, just having received FDA approval in April of this year. Giovianni is also the recipient of a pipeline stent, but he is from Italy and had it done quite some time ago! Just so you know, I also have a 2mm left ICA ophlthalmic annie that is being watched.

May I ask where you are having the pipeline done and who your doctor is? I had mine done in Philadelphia, by Dr. Pascal Jabbour at THomas Jefferson University Hospital for Neuroscience. My surgery was on June 8, 2011and Dr. Jabbour and the docs at TJUH are proctoring other surgeons for this surgery. I was in wonderful hands!!

As far as the surgery, my annies were actually found on May 25th when I was admitted to the hospital for pain down my left arm. Once the docs decided I wasn't having a heart attack, they started with the top of my head to try and pinpoint the source of the pain in my arm. Needless to say, they got no further than my brain when they found my two annies and then immediately transferred me to TJUH. Dr. Jabbour attempted to coil my 9mm annie, but when he got in there he found the mouth to be too wide so coiling was out. I could not be clipped at the annie was too close to the optic nerve and there was a great chance i would be blinded by clipping surgery. My only option was the pipeline.

I was put on a regimen of plavix and 81 mg aspirin and was sent home for 10 days. On the 10th day the stent was put in, I spnt the night in ICU and was discharged the following morning with some limitations. I was back to work in 2 weeks and am now 3 months post op and feeling good. I do have days wehre I am bone tired that I practically sleep the day away and sometimes I get headaches, but they are becoming less and less.

I will answer any questions you have so please feel free to ask. Also, if you look at the group PED, I believe Giovianni has posted the FDA info on the stent.

ill keep you in my prayers and send lots of healing thoughts to you

Linda

wow linda that is an uplifting testimony! did you have headaches before you knew you had aneurysms? I had them occassionally but now am really suffering some days but i really do think it could be stress. My doc is placing me on asa 325mg and plavix for 5 days then will do a blood test to see if blood level is therapeutic. I am having my surgery at Barnes Hospital in St.louis,mo. He travels to teach this I want to say he mentioned the scandinavian area and he is flying to colorado this week. his name is Dr. Christopher Moran. He is thinking i i will only need one PED. My biggest worry is bleeding out and the clotting of the stent which i realize is two sides of the issue here. I am trying to figure out the PED site i am alittle slow at computers other than emailing and surfing. ha. It is truly so nice to talk to someone who has walked this path. thank you!!!!

Dear Tanya, after emergency surgery in 1998 for a cerebral aneurysm bleed behind my right eye, the doctors discovered a second “mirror” aneurysm behind my left eye. Because it was still very small, they decided not to clip the second aneurysm during my first surgery because they didn’t think I could tolerate it. So I had to wait a year for the second aneurysm to grow big enough to be clipped. In 1999 I had my second surgery. It was nerve wracking, to be certain, walking around with an unruptured aneurysm in my brain. I think what kept me sane was I was prepared after knowing what to expect from the first time, I knew the signs and symptoms, and I knew already what hospital I was going to. But yes, it is scary. But think about this- I wore a medic alert necklace after my first surgery because I didn’t want anyone to accidentally put me in an MRI machine. A friend at work one day was reading what my alert medallion said, and he had this strange look on his face. The next day, we found out he died, just dropped dead, from a cerebral aneurysm he didnt know he had. I think he was having headaches but didnt put 2 and 2 together. Knowledge is our friend. I hope you are able to find some kind of peace as you go through this ordeal, as I did. Stay strong, and stay positive!

Tanya,

You're quite welcome and I see you found the PED group. Welcome to it. Since the PED is so new we all need to rely on each other to see what our each individual experiences are with it.

As for the headaches, they came after the PED was put in, but the doc did tell my husband it was a possibility. Something about your body adjusting to the PED. I do have 2 PEDs telescoped because my annie had a large mouth.

Sounds like you are in wonderful hands for your surgery and they did test my blood 1 hour before surgery to make sure my levels were good. And so far, with the regimen i'm on everything has been great. Physically I really have limited probelms. A lot of my problems are mental. The finding of the annies and knowing that one is still there, untreated. As the days pass,, so does the fear associated with that other annie. But as my 6month f/u gets closer, I'm getting a lil nervous as to what they will find with the second annie. I am hopefully that as others who have had the PED, that my 9mm annie will be completely gone!! Here's hoping!!!

I do how you are feeling, as does everyone else here, so please just take a deep breath and thank God that your annie was found before it burst. As hard as it is to hear, try to ease your mind and not burden it with the what ifs. Becuase my surgery was done withing 10 days of being found, i really had no time to think about or really research it. It was not until 3 weeks after that I had my mental breakdown!! that's when the realness of it all hit me. Then I found BAF and the wonderful people here who have been there,done that.... and I realized I'm not alone in this journey.

I am here whenever you need to talk,

Hugs and prayers to you,

Linda