Category: Coiling

September: Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month

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September is Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month. To get you started, here are the basics from the Brain Aneurysm Foundation website.

Understanding : Brain Aneurysm Basics

Being diagnosed with a brain aneurysm is frightening. Although ruptured aneurysms are relatively uncommon, they represent a very serious illness which is associated with a high rate of mortality and disability. Having survived a ruptured aneurysm is a very difficult experience to have gone through and can be extremely unsettling. Gathering information about your condition can help ease this fear, help begin the healing process, and help bring a sense of comfort and support during a trying time.

Brain AneurysmA brain aneurysm, also referred to as a cerebral aneurysm or intracranial aneurysm (IA), is a weak bulging spot on the wall of a brain artery very much like a thin balloon or weak spot on an inner tube. Over time, the blood flow within the artery pounds against the thinned portion of the wall and aneurysms form silently from wear and tear on the arteries. As the artery wall becomes gradually thinner from the dilation, the blood flow causes the weakened wall to swell outward. This pressure may cause the aneurysm to rupture and allow blood to escape into the space around the brain. A ruptured brain aneurysm commonly requires advanced surgical treatment.

What are the two types of aneurysms?

Saccular Aneurysm

A saccular aneurysm is the most common type of aneurysm and account for 80% to 90% of all intracranial aneurysms and are the most common cause of nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). It is also known as a “berry” aneurysm because of its shape. The berry aneurysm looks like a sac or berry forming at the bifuraction  or the “Y” segment of arteries. It has a neck and stem. These small, berry-like projections occur at arterial bifurcations and branches of the large arteries at the base of the brain, known as the Circle of Willis.


The fusiform aneurysm is a less common type of aneurysm. It looks like an outpouching of an arterial wall on both sides of the artery or like a blood vessel that is expanded in all directions. The fusiform aneurysm does not have a stem and it seldom ruptures.

Understanding : Warning Signs/ Symptoms

Unruptured brain aneurysms are typically completely asymptomatic. These aneurysms are typically small in size, usually less than one half inch in diameter. However, large unruptured aneurysms can occasionally press on the brain or the nerves stemming out of the brain and may result in various neurological symptoms. Any individual experiencing some or all of the following symptoms, regardless of age, should undergo immediate and careful evaluation by a physician.

  • Localized Headache
  • Dilated pupils
  • Blurred or double vision
  • Pain above and behind eye
  • Weakness and numbness
  • Difficulty speaking

Ruptured brain aneurysms usually result in a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), which is defined as bleeding into the subarachnoid space. When blood escapes into the space around the brain, it can cause sudden symptoms.

Seek Medical Attention Immediately If You Are Experiencing Some Or All Of These Symptoms:

  • Sudden severe headache, the worst headache of your life
  • Loss of consciousness
  • Nausea/Vomiting
  • Stiff Neck
  • Sudden blurred or double vision
  • Sudden pain above/behind the eye or difficulty seeing
  • Sudden change in mental status/awareness
  • Sudden trouble walking or dizziness
  • Sudden weakness and numbness
  • Sensitivity to light (photophobia)
  • Seizure
  • Drooping eyelid

Difficult Post

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Over the years since my ruptured brain aneurysm, it has been very easy for me to simply copy & paste links to other people’s aneurysm stories of hope, struggle and survival. However, this particular entry is one of the most difficult I have posted because it affects me and my family personally.

Two weeks ago, on Mother’s Day, my older sister Dori suffered a serious ruptured brain aneurysm. Damage was done to her brain stem and a secondary part of the rupture created another hemorhage deeper into her brain tissue. If her husband had not been home and close to where she collapsed, she may not have even made it to the hospital. But after a trip to a local hospital, then a helicopter flight to Buffalo General, she is hanging on, but barely. She’s been treated by some of the top Dr.’s in the country including Dr. Snyder and Dr. Sorkin.

They coiled the 6 mm aneurysm with 3 coils, but because the secondary hemorrhage created more blood, a clot had also formed and they had to remove part of her skull to remove the clot from her brain. She has been in a coma since the surgery, non-responsive, on a breathing ventilator and still suffering vasospams and seizures. The heavy sedation she has been under due to the seizures, has prevented them from getting a complete and thorough neurological exam to determine the amount of damage and her chances of any kind of a recovery.

It has been heartbreaking and frustrating. And at times I almost wish I were not as well versed in aneurysm issues as I am because I know the seriousness of the situation as a result. Injury to the brain stem is so severe because it is similar to the motherboard of a computer being disrupted or destroyed. The brain stem, controls consciousness, respiratory (breathing), heart rate, ocular (eye) movement, dilation and contracture of the pupils in response to light/darkness, swallowing and facial movement and all neurological signaling from the brain to various muscle groups. The brain stem literally controls all that we do and how we process the things that we do each day. Right now, Dori isn’t doing most of these things on her own.

She has also developed pneumonia and has been dealing with a fever although we’re hoping that has gone away now. How much can one person be dumped on? Lighten up God, would you?

Dori was with me from day one of my rupture in 2006. She immediately flew out to Maine to be with me and Dave during my surgery. As I have stated repeatedly, I’m one of those very lucky ones who survived her rupture with no further deficits. Dori was there after my surgery as I was wheeled out of the recovery room to ICU and was complaining about how thirsty I was and the tape residue on my mouth from the breathing tube. She comforted Dave through it all. They cried together and they laughed together when I started joking straight out of surgery.

She also flew into Maine to be with me last year when I had my recoiling of my larger aneurysm done. I now have 20 coils in that one aneurysm and another smaller aneurysm was discovered along the way that we’re watching. Dori was able to meet my new doctor, Dr. Ecker, who ironically trained at Buffalo General and most of the Dr’s and a lot of nurses we spoke to there remembered him.

I wasn’t able to greet Dori and be there for her when she went into surgery. Unfortunately, at the time, Dave and I were in England. My family struggled with telling me, but finally decided they had to. We cut our trip a week short and flew home from England as soon as we could and joined my family at Dori’s beside. Truly devastating to see her in the condition I was presented with. Her long, thick hair was gone, shaved to do the clot removal. Her head bandaged and wired, along with a drain. The breathing tube and ventilator doing the work for her. Every type of monitor attached to her that could be. Heartbreaking…..heartbreaking. Why couldn’t she have come through her rupture in the shape I did? Several reasons I believe.#1, God just had other plans I suppose, but #2, I firmly believe Dori was having symptoms of the aneurysm weeks (perhaps even a month) before her rupture. She’s been having back issues since last November and had back surgery scheduled. She was in horrible pain for months and was unable to work. During that time, however, she suffered what she thought was a migraine. My family is susceptible to migraines and both my sisters and I, as well as my mom and some cousins all have suffered them in some form or another. This time, however, Dori knew it was different. Then she had boughts of nausea that went on for a few more weeks. Her husband took her to the ER, then took her to an acute care center. The acute care center was more of a clinic without full medical facilities of an emergency room situation. They were there because they were offered quicker service. Frankly, I’d rather have more completed care, but that was their decision.

Apparently the last time she was taken to the acute care Ccnter, she DID ask to have a CT scan. Either they refused, or they didn’t have the facilities. And even after telling them her sister and cousin had had brain aneurysms….they didn’t even insist she go to an ER. Very, very, very frustrating to find that out because her rupture MAY have been prevented. More heartbreak. And her husband told me after her back surgery she told him she just didn’t feel right. God, she should have been looked at.

I’ve been trying to get both of my sisters to get scanned for aneurysms since my ruptured. They’re both at high risk simply by being smokers and having a 1st degree relative with aneurysms (I now have two) and two 1st cousins who have had aneurysms. If discovered, an aneurysm can be treated before it ruptures preventing rupture, stroke and death. I hate, HATE that it takes something like to this open people’s eyes, but I guess it has. We need to get my other sister scanned, and soon.

I am hoping and praying Dori will show signs of something soon. She has a beautiful 15-year old son and husband who need her and God knows I need her. She’s the caregiver for our family…she helps everyone get through tough times like this….we need her here to help us help her. If God has plans for her, I wish he’d let us know.

Another Angiogram Tomorrow

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1-year angiogram checkup tomorrow to see how my stent and re-coiling is doing. I’m feeling good, so I’m hopeful. I’m not really nervous, more anxious. We leave for the UK next month and I’m hoping for a clean bill of health. I’m going anyway, but I don’t want to be thinking about it while there.

Angiogram Check-Up Scheduled

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Even though I thought we had discussed doing this after our trip to the UK in May, the Dr.’s office called and said I was schedule for my year checkup on my aneuryms, stent, and recoiling from last spring.

Dave and I weren’t prepared for this call, nor expected to even think about this until we got back from our trip, but this now forced us to. I had a decision to make.

Of course, every scenario started going through my mind. What if something major has occured with the coiled aneurym? What if the tiny aneurysm has grown significantly? What if the stent has failed? What if? What if? What if?

Then I’d think, but I’d rather do this and get it over with and if everything looks fine, then no harm, no foul and life goes on!

The Paranoid Mind and the Common-Sense Mind had some serious battles all night.

The next morning, I woke up prepared to make the final decision to wait until June when we got back from the trip. Fine! Decision made. THEN….my Paranoid Mind spoke up and said “Heidi, what if you don’t have the angiogram and something happens half way across the Atlantic and there is no place to quickly land to take care of it medically and you suffer severly.?” Well…I didn’t want to have to say “If I had only had the angiogram prior to flying, I would have known there was an issue”. It’s all about the “knowing”….it truly is.

So, then my even Calmer Common Sense Mind spoke up and said Dr. Ecker wouldn’t let me fly if he felt there were serious issues and he felt he had done such a good job with the stent and recoiling last year that I shouldn’t be concerned about the coiled annie. The odds of the tiny annie growing to such a significant size in a year are pretty slim…so……I reversed my decision and decided I’d just rather know. We kept the appointment and I’ll go it on April 11th. That’s a month before we leave for Europe.