Dave and I both admitted to each other on the drive to Portland that we were both scared last night. We were scared something would go wrong during surgery and I would not be the same afterwards. As a result I would regret making the decision. Well…as it turns out it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

We also both admitted our fears were completely resolved when Dr. Ecker walked into to the pre-op prep room and explained the procedure again. He just oozes confidence. Hower, he mentioned the size and location of the incision and THAT was news. He told us in September the size of the location he opened the skull, but not the size of the skin incision. THAT was much larger and something Dave and I should have though about but never did.

They quickly put me under when I got into operating room, so I didn’t get much of a chance to see either doctor or explore this operating theatre. Previously I had only been in radiology.

The actual procedure only took about and hour and a half instead of the 4-5 hours we were warned about.

I woke up to Dave standing over me and I was already correcting him and Dr. Ecker told me it was a huge success and they he able to place the clip in a perfect spot. He also informed me that the top of the aneurysm was very thin walled…we may have dodged a bullet with this one.

I was taken to the lovely 6o8 neuro ward. The staff is great…the atmosphere is not. I got no sleep and then became very nauseous over night as well. Twas a long night.

My head was hurting pretty bad and my jaw was quite painful. I learned the next morning they had to cut my jaw muscle. Goody!

I also got the first look at my incision. Wow! It’s big and ugly with 53 stitches in the outer skin.