Author: heiditea

I had my 13th cerebral angiogram two days ago. Lucky 13? Well, it almost was! The clean bill of health would have been the doc saying “it was a glitch on the MRA, we don’t see anything there”. There IS something there, but more on that later.

Snow was forecast for not only our area, but for Portland as well, so Dave and I drove down Tuesday night to stay over and avoid driving the next morning in the snow for an hour. Thankfully, the snow only amounted to a few inches and it was out of the area before morning. I’m still glad we stayed over. It was nice not to have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to drive the hour to get to Portland. Instead our hotel was a short 10-minute drive away from the hospital.

The angiogram was scheduled in Maine Med’s new Surgery 2 suite, which was new for us. All of my previous procedures have been done in Radiology. This new suite included a new waiting room and pre- and post-op areas.

Once we were checked in to admissions, and were taken to the new surgery in the Bean Tower area of the hospital, I was promptly prepped for the procedure by a lovely RN named Sasha. She was originally from the UK and had a wonderful British accent. Being called “my lovely” for an hour was highly relaxing. Her skills with the needle were also excellent. I hardly felt the IV and there is no bump or any bruising on the site 2 days later.

Dave, as usual, took advantage of having some captive audiences at his disposal to chat about our brain aneurysm group and our (his and my) collective experience with aneurysms and the relationship with Maine Medical Center.

Although I don’t necessarily enjoy speaking about the subject at length just before going in to have a brain scan that could change my life, they are important discussions and Dave is good (or annoying depending on the nurse/doc) at striking up those conversations and engaging with anyone who is willing (and has the time) to listen on the hospital staff.

Sasha and Dave also shared a love of British murder mystery televisions shows! Once aneurysm chat ended, it quickly switched to their favorite shows and characters. It was a nice, and unexpected change of subject matter. I don’t watch them, so it was highly enjoyable for Dave to chat with someone who watches the same series.

After answering everyone’s medical questions, I was soon given some happy juice and wheeled back to the surgical suite. It appeared to me to be a smaller, but more organized room and certainly shiny and new. I slid to the table and was “prepared”. They shave your groin, place your arms in plastic guards, and give you a bit more happy juice. Since this was just a diagnostic procedure, they don’t completely knock you out and you do need to be alert enough to follow a command to hold your breath during the scan.

After the 3-D images were taken, Dr. Ecker briefly and very medically, described what his initial findings were while I was still on the table, but I wasn’t quite “with it” to remember or understand everything he said. He also went and spoke to Dave in the waiting room. Dave and I compared notes in recovery and neither of us were completely sure what the results were, but it sounded promising.

There were no issues during the angiogram and I was taken to the recovery room where nurse Dani (not sure how he spelled it…it was French) made sure both Dave and I were taken care of and he checked my incision/puncture site every 20 minutes or so.

Laying flat for 2 hours isn’t that bad and I only asked for a cup of hot tea. I wasn’t as hungry as I thought I’d be, but knew we could eat on the way home. After successfully walking a wee bit and having no issues, I was discharged to Dave’s care.

We stopped for some fast food on the drive north. We arrived at home, fed the cats, and promptly took it easy and put on all the comfy clothes while I waited for the official results to be posted on the MyChart online portal from the hospital.

Those results came out yesterday and I believe I interpreted them correctly. The great news is that the item in question is NOT a brain aneurysm. It’s actually a deformed blood vessel, or an ophthalmic infundibulum. An infundibulum usually has a funnel shape and typically isn’t associated with the same risks as aneurysms. They’re often benign and don’t require immediate treatment. I’m assuming it will probably be monitored along with my usual regular checkups for my brain aneurysms. It’s about 3mm in size.

At least that’s what I am initially reading online…which is ALWAYS correct information, right? 😉 I have a follow up appointment with the doc to discuss it on March 10th where I can ask more questions, see the images, and discuss a course of action, if one is even needed.

I also saw the great news on my report that the artery has healed over the flow diverter that was placed in 2022. Mission accomplished on that end!

I feel better after reading the results report and pray this is just another lovely part of my funky vascular system that I have to live with and learn how to pronounce correctly.

As usual, my care at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center was top-notch. Everyone from the surgeons, the PA’s, the nurses, the staff who assist with getting people from one floor to the next, do it with professionalism and care. I cannot recommend them enough.