Deb,
Are they going to coil both of them or watch the 3mm one? Did they give you any facts about why them rupturing was slim. It really drives me crazy that no two doctors can agree. How many opinions are we supposed to get? I know high blood pressure is a big factor in rupture. I also undersand the not sleeping part all to well. Every morning I wake up I thank God for another day. I keep wondering if the stress and worry will make it rupture? I agree that it is probably worse. When are you supposed to have the surgery? Do you know that they can definitely be coiled already or do they have to do an angiogram? I wish you the best.Mary
Hi Mary
I had an MRA which showed t originally to be 5mm, the angiogram that I had a week and a half later measured it at a 7mm. I asked if it had grown and the answer was no just better pictures with the angiogram. Apparently there are 2 reasons that age is important. First people do better with surgery if they are younger and second the risk of rupture is cumulative so the longer that you have to live, the more likely you are to rupture. My decision was really based on the fact that clipping is a pain at first but the long term follow-up is supposed to be better. Clipping also has a longer history and the others are new and research may show them to be less effective at some point (who knows). I am more comforted by the known than the unknown at this point. I also would be unable to take asprin long term because of stomach ulcer problems which is required if you do the stent assisted coiling. The important thing to remember is that you have to do what is comfortable for you based on the best inforamtion you can find. I hope that your journey to make a decision is not too painful, there are no “right” answers. Sandi
Hi Sandi,
I am not too comforted by the fact that there was such a discrepancy in size between the MRA and the angiogram only a week and a half later. I also did not know about the aspirin but that is probably because I have not had the angiogram yet. I seen the dr. on Sept. 16 and have been in hell ever since. I do not know which surgery I can have. What did your dr. explain to you about the outcome of the clipping when an annie has not ruptured. Do you know hospital time, or expected recovery time, or about complications that may arise or has this not been discussed yet? Maybe I shoud stop reading and researching because it is making my decision harder. Have a good weekend and thanks. Mary
Sandi, whoever your neuro is…please know he/she is truly special, excellent, for the explanations given to you. I hope you will let that person know they walk on water for having spent the time to explain it to you…that is truly humanitarian care.
Sandi, I was accused of being “negative” for asking questions that are similar/same to what your neuro-darling provided/explained to you up front. Cherish your specialist…
Pat
Hi Mary,
Thank you for the gift. I’m sorry that you have all these decisions to make. My mother had the coiling after a rupture and the doctors pretty much decided for us. I think most of her problems now are because of the rupture and it was in her frontal lobe. I hope you are doing well.
Mary
The angiogram is a much better picture which allows them to measure more carefully so at the very least, you should consider the angiogram. Having it done does not commit you to a course of action but gives you a better idea of what your options are. The surgery seems to be the same either ruptured or unruptured but the recovery time is supposed to be shorter. I was told to expect about 4 days in the hospital. Some people have gone home sooner and some stay longer if any complications arise. I was told to expect about 4 weeks of taking it easy when I get home. You can see from the variety of posts on this site that things vary dramatically from person to person. The potential complications seem to be normal things realted to surgery/ general anesthesia. Reading/researching comforts me because I don’t like suprises but maybe you should take a break for awhile if you need it.
Sandi
Pat
Shame on anyone who made you feel bad for asking questions particularly in a situation like this when there are no right answers. I work in healthcare so I know to run away from anyone that doesn’t like questions.
Sandi
Sandi,
I was thinking about gettng the angiogram but I did not know if it would have to be repeated if I waited the 6 months to see if it has grown. I have to ask ns. Also I don’t think I want to know if my only option is clipping. I know it varies from person to person but it sounds like your ns didn’t have any of the horror stories and made it seem ok as long as there were no complications. I am going to check some things out and think I am going to stop for awhile with the reading because I am sure there are plenty of success stories which I do not know about. Thanks Mary
Holding on,
You are welcome, and I hope your mom is improving daily. Good luck Mary
Sandi, thank you…I did not have to run away; too long a story… Had my questions been answered, I’d have been confident in the quality of those involved.
In your decision process there are limited right answers; you truly are blessed to have the ability to learn, think, make a decision, and the ability to ask, and receive answers. After ruptures, that ability can be extremely limited…I have no memory of any of it.
Angio images are clear/precise, and should assist you with your decisions.
S/P treatment, angio images should readily be identifiable and explainable by those who performed them and those who receive them. When questions are not answered, it is a concern to me.
Pat
I have a 4mm aneurysm behind my right eye. I went to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota last week for a 2nd opinion. I was told that behind the eye is a very common place for women to get an aneurysm. Dr. Lanzino suggested we watch it and get it rechecked in 6 months. He said the chance of a rupture is less than 1%. He is the 3rd doctor to tell me just to watch it for six months. He mentioned that if they are to grow they usually do it in the first 6 months. If it grows we will decide what to do with it at that time. I’ve decided to wait. Good luck to you. Janet Dolar
Janet
It is good to know that 3 doctors told you the same thing. That is pretty reassuring. I did not know that if it was going to grow that it would do it within the first 6 months. Since he told you the rupture rate is less than 1%, I would feel pretty confident to wait also. I am afraid because I do not know how fast it can grow in 6 months since mine is a little larger and if there is a higher risk of rupture, but your reply relaxes me a little. Did he tell you any specific symptoms to watch for that would indicate that it was growing or maybe leaking? Good luck and I hope your 6 month check is unchanged. Thanks, Mary
hi Mary,i also had a giant anuerysm , unruptured, on the left behind my eye,I told my surgeon to do what he felt would be best, he chose to coil and stent , I had 4 surgeries,ended up with 2 stents and 51 coils, I was back to work 2 weeks after each surgery,I was very very very blessed,I suprised everyone because I was never frightened,I had the mind set that I had no control over the situation and I knew nothing about brain surgery so leave it to the professionals… I did read up on the different types of anuerysms and the treatment which helped me understand when I spoke to my surgeons, I made sure to get copies of all my reports so i could look everything up online,and the surgerys were from oct 2008 and last one was oct 2009,All I can say is I am grateful that my surgeon chose coiling and stenting rather than open surgery, Had mine all done at Hospital of University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia–surgeons here in Delaware would not do the surgeries, guess it was too risky for them, anyway,don’t be afraid to ask your doctor questions, if you are not comfortable get a second opnion, even if u have to go to another state!!! Julie
I asked him what I should watch for that would cause me to go into the emergency room and he said “you will know” so to me that would mean it would be symptoms I couldn’t ignore. My current symptoms are frequent headaches and a stiff neck but he’s not at all worried. He seems to think that the headaches are unrelated. If my headaches were of the “thunderclap type” right over the rt eye he would be more concerned. If I should have more thunderclap headaches I would contact him and get his opinion, perhaps that would be an indication of leakage or growth. He told me to call with any questions anytime I needed to.
Mary, I have been reading these posts thinking… I was a slight basket case when I was told about my aneurysm. If I remember right it was 2-3 cm or mm which ever is smaller. The thought of having a ticking time bomb in my head didn’t set well with me. After my angiogram I was told I was not a canidate for coiling. Which was good because I didn’t like the idea of them having to go back in to “fill” it up if it got compacted after time. I was very scared to have the clipping done. But I am very glad I had it done. No more problems with that aneurysm. Recovery from a non-ruptured aneursym is less than with a rupture. Hence why I didn’t wait to watch it. And according to what I was told after surgery they could see the blood swirling in it before they clipped it. To me that says the wall was thin and who knows when it might have ruptured. I wasn’t going to find out. I don’t have alot of headaches, short of at the incision site which gets better everyday. As long as I don’t get over tired or really stressed. Since returning to work I have taken very few meds for pain.
Like some one said this is a personal decision. I personally felt like it needed to be dealt with quickly. I didn’t want to have it rupture, no one does. But we really don’t know if and when they might and I was not going to live everyday worrying about it. Best of luck. It is a hard decision to make coil,clip, or watch and wait. If I can help in any way jsut let me know. Beth
Janet,
Thanks. I also have headaches but they are very short, more like stabs. The other problem is dizziness, but I am on medication that can cause both so I don’t know which is which. I guess we could tell if something was really bad enough for the ER. Good luck and my thoughts are with you. Mary
Julie,
Thanks for reply. My surgeon told me it was completely up to me because I would be the one waiting the 6 months and it depended how comfortable I was with that. The rate of rupture is supposedly small but that does not mean it can’t happen. I don’t know which surgery I can have yet. Did you have an angiogram first to determine which procedure? Why were there 4 surgeries? Was it because of the amount of coils or did something happen to have it redone. Are there any lasting after effects? How long were you in hospital each time? I hope these questions are OK to ask. I am glad everything went fine and you were really very lucky and blessed. Good luck in the future. Mary
Mary,
They are only going to coil the larger one.Drs. said it was slim chance of rupture because it is at the base of the skull protected by bone. But they both have different opinions wheather I should have it done or not. I am going with the second one. Waiting for them to call me back to get a date for the surgery. I already had the agiogram done in july.Deb
Beth,
Thanks for the reply. I am glad all went well for you. Can I ask how long ago you had the surgery, how long was the hospital stay, were there any complications at all, and if you have any lasting effects at all as far as memory, speech, balance etc. like I have read on some of the posts. I understand what you mean by the thin wall. That is why it confuses me when they say it can be watched and rupture rate is low. How do they know that without knowing how thin the wall is? My problem is thinking that it may never have to be dealt with. Then, on the other hand I don’t think I can keep living like this all the time not knowing who is right. I hope you are doing great and keep improving daily. Thanks for your help. Mary
Hey Mary.
That is what we are here for to help one another if we can.
I will answer any question anyone has. So… my surgery was May 11th that was a tues. I spent 1 day in ICU, 2 days on a floor and went home Fri. so 3-4 days. No complications. Well my blood sugar dropped after surgery they gave me a insulin shot and that was the end of that. I am not a diabetic. But my BS was low they fixed it with the one shot of insulin and more more problems. I dont remember ICU. I threw up one time after surgery. But only that one time. They give you good meds very little pain while in the hospital. No problems with speech, vision, or balance. I guess the biggest problem was my jaw. my incision was from the middle top(in the hair line) of my head around to the front of my ear. There is a picture of it on my page a before and after. They had to take the muscles that run from your jaw up to where the incision was down to get in to the cranium. then put them back and they don’t like being messed with so they were alittle irritable. a few weeks of not being able to open my mouth as wide as I once was but the more you try the better it gets. I think everyone goes thru the should I wait and see what happens or should I do something to make sure it doesn’t rupture. That is between you and your doctor. I did not want to wait and see. I couldn’t live with thinking it could rupture and life as I knew it would forever be changed. But there are people that are doing it right now with no problems. Me- that wasn’t an option. And thankfully I had a supportive Dr. He never tried to talk me out if it.
I hope this helps. If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. I am an open book.