Category: Doctor

Things To Do This Week

Published on by heiditeaLeave a comment

Yes, this week has finally come.

Wednesday (16th) I will have more coils added to my brain aneurysm after it was discovered in January that the 16 platinum coils that were inserted back in 2006
when it ruptured were either compacting or the aneurysm was growing and blood was flowing back into it. Since it’s an aneurysm that has already ruptured
once, everyone felt it was important to get this taken care of sooner rather than later.

The 2nd smaller aneurysm will be monitored. Right now there doesn’t appear to be a risk of rupture with that one, so it’s a wait-and-see-what-it-does kind of a mode. It may never grow or need any treatment…or it may grow or rupture. Who knows! Ah, the lovely, complicated, wonderful brain!

The hope is that they’ll do the coiling, I’ll be in ICU possibly just overnight, and I’ll be released to go home the following day (St. Patrick’s Day!). And if all goes well, that should be the case.

I have a small collection of things to take with me to the hospital on Wednesday. My “Get-Better-Bear” Care Bear my sister sent me in 2006, my comfy clothes for the ride back home, and I’m taking my iPad with me to keep me occupied. I have synced up an entire season of The Dick Van Dyke show on NetFlix as well as some podcasts. I know I won’t get any sleep in the hospital…they truly aren’t restful, but they treat you VERY well at Maine Medical Center. I had 20 days in the hospital in 2006 to witness that.

I’m told I may be very tired for some time (possibly weeks) after the procedure and may have a headache after the coiling. I know my groin will be sore. If you’re not familiar with endovascular coiling, here is good explanation. It’s ironic to have brain surgery and your groin to be the incision, but that’s one of the beauties of having coiling verses the far more invasive and dangerous
clipping, where they open the skull and perform open brain surgery.

It’s still a procedure on your brain, however and one that is not without complications. I’m confident with my Dr. that he’ll do what needs to be done and do it well. I only plan to take four days off work.

I know I’m lucky and I’m blessed with each day I wake up Dave and our kitties. May the luck of the Irish be with me this week!

Pre-Operative Appointment

Published on by heiditeaLeave a comment

Because my original coiling was an emergency situation due to my brain aneurysm rupturing, I didn’t get to “experience” Maine Medical Center’s Pre-operative department. They may not have been that extensive back in 2006 either. But, I have to say it’s a terrific group. I didn’t really know what to expect.

I knew they were taking blood, but beyond that, I didn’t know if my Doc had ordered other tests or procedures to be run. They did draw some blood and took my vitals, the nurses gave me instructions and directions, and we had an extensive anesthesia interview. I met with four different ladies during the visit which lasted almost two hours.

Pat Richards, one of the Dr’s/nurse, even went above and beyond the call of duty and tried to get to the bottom of a lingering medication issue I haven’t been able to get straight answers on. She realized it was stressing me out and took it upon herself to find the answers for me. I really, really appreciated her doing that. She didn’t have to, but I knew she’d have the proper authority and medical explanation and terminology that I didn’t.

They were all very well-informed and presented us with several more brochures on what to expect, where to go and what to do before, during and after any surgery. In 2006, we weren’t given any such information before, during or after, so I think they’ve come a long way in educating the patients and their caregivers. There still was no info on aneurysms though, so we’re hoping down the road, we can help change that.

Even though it meant a separate trip down to Portland for us (an hour or so away), Dave and I both felt going through all of this on a day different from the surgery day was very nice. I didn’t have to deal with answering a ton of questions, giving blood and signing forms an hour before the surgery. I’ll get there, meet with the anesthesiologist and the Dr. and I’m on my way. I’ll be drugged…Dave will have the tough part of waiting.

I was very pleased with the level of care by Maine Med when I was there for 20 days back in 2006 and I continue to be impressed with their improvement and care for their patients.  Let’s hope I feel the same way on March 17th!

Additional Coiling

Published on by heiditeaLeave a comment

Just got back from the Dr. in Scarborough. We had a real good, hour-long meeting with him to discuss procedures and risks. At the end of the hour, I decided to have the recoiling done with a possibility of a stent, but only if he sees there might be an issue with recoiling that area of the larger aneurysm. It doesn’t appear he’s concerned there will be issues, but just in case his first coil doesn’t want to stay put or something, he’ll put the stent in, then I’ll come back for more coiling 6 weeks later. He didn’t seem overly alarmed with any serious risks to the recoiling. There is a slightly higher risk with the stent, but I’m right there on the table so if something does happen, they can address right there and then.

I keep calling it recoiling, but it’s technically additional coiling being added.

I feel confident that this is the best thing to do at the moment. He also wants to get a non-invasive image of the smaller aneurysm so that it can be monitored in the future without having to go in via the groin on a yearly basis, which I’m fine with. They may order a CTA scan while I’m in the hospital at the same time.

They’re scheduling surgeries for March right now, so I’ll have all February to think about it…or not! Then he’s away in Finland for the month of April working with a high-ranking surgeon over there. I’m hoping the coiling is scheduled for very early March, but we’ll see.

Dr. Ecker performs elective surgeries (clipping and coiling) on Wednesdays. I’ll need to be put on a regimen of Plavix and Aspirin four days prior to the procedure and that’s only in case the stent will be inserted to keep the blood thin and prevent any clotting. If the coiling goes well and I don’t need the stent, then I can stop the aspirin and plavix. If he puts the stent in, then I need to keep up with those meds until after the other coiling is done and possibly for several years after depending on how my blood flow is.

Confused yet? LOL Here’s the Reader’s Digest version:
1) Schedule procedure for March
2) Start Aspirin/Plavix regimen Sunday prior to procedure
3) Coils added to large Aneurysm.
4) Stay in hospital overnight for monitoring
5) Leave hospital next day
6) Possible two or three days off from work after that

If the coils don’t “take”, a stent will be inserted the same day and I’ll have to go back six weeks later for coiling. The reason he puts the stent in then waits six weeks is to give
the stent time to adjust to its surroundings and not move during coiling, which makes sense.

I think I’m in good hands and I’m feeling good about just knowing what we’re going to do now. Still some minor risks involved, but he really calmed my fears and put me at ease knowing he’s done hundreds of these and really knows what he’s doing.

I’m on an aspirin test tonight. I thought I was allergic to aspirin and it made my heart race, but it might be something else. We’ll find out!!

So, all of you re-coilers might be getting questions from me in the next month!

My Brain

Published on by heiditeaLeave a comment

The news is pretty good. In fact, much better than we were expecting based on some of the conversations we’ve had with the Dr. previously.

Basically, I do not have to have open brain surgery and clipping, so that’s great news. He didn’t feel the issues with the larger aneurysm, nor the size, location or shape of the smaller one, required it. Once that was out of the way, I felt much better.

There ARE some issues with the larger 2006 aneurysm that can either be addressed now, or later. In fact he said we could do nothing with it now and then have an angiogram in 2012 to monitor it,mbut since it has developed some issues since 2006, I’m probably going to opt to have it “taken care” sooner rather than later because it’s the original aneurysm and it WAS a ruptured aneurysm, so it may be susceptible to rupturing again should we not treat it.

With the Dr.’s recommendations, I think we’re going to opt for having more coils inserted into the aneurysm and fill up that one area that has expanded. It’s a low risk operation. There’s a possibility he might insert a stent into the artery (which will increase any risk slightly) to keep the artery shaped better for the coils to keep their shape within the aneurysm. I still don’t understand it all. The first course of
action will more than likely be re-coiling the larger annie. I have unusual artery configurations apparently.

Regarding the smaller aneurysm, he felt it wasn’t at risk for rupturing and we all agreed I’d live with it as is and monitor it with MRI’s. It appears there WAS something there on my previous angiograms but it was never mentioned or pointed out. The wonderful thing about this most recent angiogram I had last week, was that it’s in 3D. The images are soooo much better than they were even back in 2006 and 2007. So the smaller annie showed up VERY well on last week’s angiogram. It’s near the larger aneurysm, but he didn’t feel it was a serious issue at this point and the risksmof treating it would far out weigh the risks of just letting it sit and monitor it. I’m okay with that at this point….I guess. LOL Still not sure how I feel.

He also noticed an irregular area on my RIGHT carotid artery behind my right eye. (both of my other annies are behind my left eye). He said we’ll just keep an eye on it, but that it posed absolutely no concern right now. I have irregular arteries. I’m so special!

He didn’t want us to rush into a decision today, so we scheduled another appointment with him on Jan. 23rd to give us some time to do research and make a first decision on what I want to do…then we’ll go from there. The coiling would be an over-night stay in the hospital and that’s it. I’ve read where many people who have had recoiling take a week of work and that’s it, so that’s good news. If we decide to do that stents, the risks are a little higher and it might require a slighter longer hospital stay, but I don’t know yet. He spent a good hour and a half with us and had all of my images from 2006 and beyond so it was great to compare images.

So, no open brain surgery and and a low-risk procedure is possible in the next month or so.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it…aneurysms and all!

Thanks for all your kind words of support. It’s all scary, but it really helps knowing there are others out there going through the same type of thing and also living with multiple annies.