Watch and wait- how long?

Good for you!

I saw Christopher Ogilivie at MGH, he is now at Beth Israel. (supposedly the #1 Neurosurgeon in he country) I also saw Dr. Carlos David at Lahey clinic, and I went with Dr. David for the surgery. Message me if you have any questions!

My Dr. was Christopher Ogilvy as well. I thought he was awesome. And not sure if he is number one in country, but I did hear something to that fact.

I'm also in Canada by new Neurogist is Dr Stirling have good Dotor but what doctor your seeing?

I. Am seeing Dr.Sinclair in Ottawa.

Hi Jennifer
What size was your Annie when it was rupted and who did you see in NYU . I’m seeing dr Rina and he told me my Annie’s are 3 mm small so I just need to do scan every year.

You’ve responded to a topic that is from 2014. You can tell because it gives the month and then the year. In this post it was started Jul ā€˜14 or July 2014 and stopped in September 2014. I haven’t been able to close all these old posts. I will wait until tomorrow to see if Jennifer responds before I close this one. Many times members have moved on with their life and vary rarely do they come back. You can always try to send a message to a member and hope they still have the same email with these old posts.

Hi! My aneurysm was very small (I think smaller than yours) when it ruptured. By the time I got to Dr. Riina it had already ruptured and been operated on (poorly) by a surgeon at Yale. So Dr. Riina had to go in and fix it. If he is telling you to ā€œwatch and waitā€ I would trust him because he’s excellent, one of the very best in the country. However, please ask him follow-up questions if you are feeling unsure - he is a good guy! I don’t trust or compliment many doctors but he saved my life and several others I know. Also - it never ever hurts to get a second opinion. You could ask Dr. Sander Connolly at Columbia to take a look. I did NOT love his personality but he has a great reputation. Or Dr Philip Meyers also at Columbia if you are a candidate for endovascular surgery. He’s excellent and is also supposed to be very nice.

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That’s ok! I got an email saying there was a question. Hope you are well :).

Thanks Jennifer for replying .were you watching it when it rupted or you didn’t know about it . Hello m so scared mine is 3 mm and I have 2 both are 2 mm and I don’t know what to do especially when I hear that small one also rupted

No - I didn’t even know about mine before it ruptured one day. It’s lucky they found yours before rupture because it allows you to choose your surgeon in a calm way (not an emergency) and to get another opinion if you wish. I understand your fears, I really do, but you can have confidence in Dr. Riina. I believe he’d be willing to answer more questions for you by email - why don’t you call his office and ask. Feel free to email me directly if you want.

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Hello Jennifer
Thanks a lot . I know I’m bothering you a lot but I’m really kind of lost to take a descision especially when I hear that small one can rupt too and even though 3 doctors recommend that I watch it but when I read about all the small Annie’s that rupt I start panicking About it . Even though it said that the risk is low which is 0.5.I want to hear advices from people who had it . My family can not understand what I’m going through .

Yes ma’am, and thank you for answering. Hope you’re enjoying life. You always give good advice!

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Hi - you’re not bothering me at all. It sounds like you are doing everything right. Getting three opinions, and they all agree, should give you some confidence. They must feel that surgery is riskier than watching. That could have to do with lots of things; your age, your overall health, the location of your aneurysms, etc. Did they tell you why, specifically? If not - go ahead and ask for some more clarification.

Dr. Riina is one of the few who can do both neuro surgery (clipping) AND vascular (coiling or pipeline device that goes through the veins). If he thought he should move on it, he would. So there must be a good reason for him not to.

Dr Rina told me I’m not worried at all about them he said they are tiny and you just need to take them off your mind and go with your life and I can see you again in a year . That’s what he said . But the problem is with my anxiety and reading that some people have them small and they rupt . It scares me and I feel like maybe I just have to do it . The other doctor from Cornell told me you have 0.5 risk that the aneurysm will rupt but if you do the surgery , the risk is between 1 and 2 % that’s his reason for me to monitor it . But as I told you Dr Rina was like don’t worry about it at all now .just do scan every year . One doctor in NYU Langone Dr Nelson told be you better do it to be safe . He said I recommend you doing it .

Dr. Nelson is the leading Neuroradiologist at NYU. As a Neuroradiologist, he would treat the aneurysm by going through a blood vessel instead of by an ā€œopen brain surgery.ā€ So…if he thinks you need that then why isn’t he doing it?

If Nelson feels you are not a good candidate for the vascular procedure and that you need the open brain surgery instead, have you told Dr. Riina what Nelson’s opinion is? Since they are both at NYU I’d think they would talk with one another.

If Nelson can’t treat it the neuro vascular way, and all the surgeons say ā€œdon’t do itā€ then you’ll just have to monitor every year. And in the meantime, I know there is a support group that meets in the city, I think at Cornell. Maybe that would be helpful to you.

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Dr Nelson said that I’ll need stent . I’m supposed to have angiogram with him tomorrow but I’m not going . I believe I’ll do CTA scan Saturday and then I’ll see dr Arina again and see .

When you see Dr. Riina, ask him for his thoughts on the stent. Ask him for the pros and cons in his opinion, and why he thinks Dr. Nelson is suggesting it. They should certainly be able to talk to one another since they’re both at NYU.

The stent is a lot less invasive than open clipping surgery and it’s a fast recovery, but you want to understand the conflicting advice. Dr. Riina is a good one to help you with that.

Ps - An angiogram is the VERY best way to see what’s really going on with the aneurysms. Much better than CT or MRI, so you should expect to have one at some point.

Good luck with everything!!