This past April I had my 1-year checkup on my shiny new stent and my additional, sparkling new coils. Oh, and another look at the other 3 mm annie that’s sitting there.

Although I got the all-clear to fly to the UK, the Dr. did notice a slight blip on the original aneurysm, but he wasn’t overly concerned about it this year. We’d monitor it next April. And the smaller Annie hadn’t grown any larger or odd shaped. All good news respectively speaking.

Obviously, the furthest thing from my mind while we were finally in the UK for our delayed honeymoon in May, was losing my sister to a ruptured 6 mm aneurysm. I’m still trying to understand and come to grips with her passing, and in the manner it occurred. It’s too hard and it’s still too unbelievable.

But, her death has also forced me to rethink my decision in 2011 to just monitor the smaller aneurysm. The Dr. did not feel it was at risk for rupture any time soon, but how can he know for sure? How does anyone know if the stress from losing my sister, canceling the rest of our honeymoon, and the annual stress related to the catalog won’t put more pressure on that little guy, or worse yet, additional strain on the larger, already-susceptible 11 mm aneurysm? They don’t.

The Dr. said the 3 mm one would be a good candidate for clipping because of its shape (rectangular), but the mere thought of having my head cut open and the risks and recovery afterwards have me very nervous. BUT it would be my decision and it would be an elective procedure to prevent a major rupture. In my mind, that’s the more important factor.

Now the pisser is that I have to wait until next April to address all of this again at my checkup. Not sure, in light of what my family just went through, I can wait that long.

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