Category: Family

The Rest of The Story

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Now that I’m feeling a little more human today, I’ll elaborate on the brain procedure from Wednesday.

We got there about 15 minutes earlier than we were supposed be. We were told no later than 10:00. The procedure was supposed to start 11:30.

We waited in the surgery waiting room for over 1 1/2 hours. I hate waiting…I’ve BEEN waiting for months now to get this darn thing over with. I didn’t really need this last hour or so of waiting. It wasn’t like I had to be anywhere, but it was still very frustrating to see people who arrive later than us go in first. Apparently there was a mixup behind the scenes as the pre-op nurses were very apologetic and we rushed quite quickly though the pre-op procedure.

We met the anesthesiologist and answered lots of questions, then I was wheeled down the radiology department. Down the long, flower-painted, cool, corridor. I DID remember that hallway during my first coiling in 2006, which was amazing, because I was pretty out of it due to the rupture. It must had had an impact, or I thought I was imaging it.

My vitals were taken and we were parked outside of the radiology operating room. Dr. Ecker appeared and we chatted. I also had to sign several consent forms, one of which was for the Neurofrom Micro Delievery Stent, just in case coiling wasn’t working and he needed to deploy it.

I kissed Dave and off I went. I had several IV’s in already, but they had to hook me up to several monitors once I was on the narrow table. The arm guards were raised and they began giving me oxygen. Immediately after that, they said they were going to start putting me under. I felt VERY sleepy and that’s the last thing I remember.

From what the Dr. told me later on, he did try for some time to insert the coils into the bulging wall of the aneurysm, but was unsuccessful in getting the coils to stay in the aneurysm because of the width of the aneurysm remnant. So the stent was deployed over the mouth of the entire aneurysm. That particular annie is at the top of very angled, loopy part of my artery. The Dr. kept saying it was a “diseased” artery, but it wasn’t physically ill, just very oddly shaped and according to the Dr. the stent fit in it perfectly. He seem very pleased with how well the stent worked in that odd shaped artery.

As I was being unhooked, but still on the OR table, Dr. Ecker went to speak to Dave and in trying to explain things to Dave, he eventually ended up taking Dave directly into the OR where I was still on the table showing him the images of where the stent was placed. Something DID occur on the table and the Dr. did have to inject something. We’re still not sure what term he used. It MAY have been a vasospam, not sure. I was pretty impressed, as was Dave, that the Dr. took Dave right into the OR to show him. I like that he does that.

The next thing I remember was being yelled at to wake up. I was in recovery. Dr. Ecker was right there and told me he had to employ the stent. I was quite ticked…only because that meant I had to go through all of this AGAIN and start the wait AGAIN for more work. Ugh.

I had a breathing tube inserted for the surgery and removed afterwards, but it made my throat VERY sore. I wasn’t hungry and had a pretty good head ache. There were two neuro patients in the larger recovery room. We both should have been transferred up to the 608 ward. I was NOT looking forward to that room due to previous experiences there in 2006, so I was quite pleased that they didn’t have any beds up there and that we would be spending the night in the recovery room. There were very few of us and would be much quieter.

Under the care of Erin, Hank, Darcy and Gil, a quite night soon became a rough one. Dave left at about 9 or so. He assisted me a great deal, so I don’t think the nurses minded him being there. In fact, when he left, Erin said my husband “is a real sweetheart”. I said I agreed and that I was very lucky. As soon as he left, the rest of the night and next day just went down hill.

The head pain became worse and different levels of pain meds just weren’t working. So we kept ramping up the pain meeds, then I finally got physically sick about 3 times over a 6 hour period. Morphine doesn’t like me. It’s not fun to throw up in the first place, but to do it after you’ve had brain surgery and a breathing tube stuck down your throat…it was VERY unpleasant and painful and took so, so much out of me, not to mentioned how tired and numb I felt. It was not a good night or morning.

About 4 or 5 hours after I got out of surgery, I THEN realized I had a catheter. I never even realized I had it attached/on. They did remove it, but I was unable to pee on my own. They did a bladder scan and found I was full, so another catheter was inserted. A few hours later it was removed. Still nothing on my own however.

I saw Dr. Ecker a little bit before 7 the next morning. He was concerned about my pain and about throwing up, so he ordered up a CT scan and within 20 minutes I was over in radiology again getting scanned to make sure everything was okay with the stent.

Once they got the news that it looked good, I was moved to a semi-private room on the 6th floor. They had made up all of the release forms before I left recovery so all I had to do before I could be discharged was pee on my own. Talk about pressure!! Two tries…nothing. They did 2 different bladder scans and were getting ready to put in ANOTHER catheter, when I finally went on my own. Yippee!! I’m outta here!

My head was still not feeling very well, I was weak and wobbly, but at least the nausea was done. They tried a patch used for motion sickness and that finally seemed to do the trick. I had eaten a little bit, but not much. Swallowing anything other than water was a little painful still and I was very afraid of choking on food as I knew that would hurt my head tremendously.

We left the hospital. I had my Guinness shirt on in honor of St. Patrick’s Day and we stopped at McDonalds for shamrock shakes. Unfortunately, the activity flashing by the car and riding in the car in general upset my head and stomach a little bit, so I didn’t have much of it until I got home later. I just wanted to get home to my own bed.

I called my mom when I got home, took two tylenol and went to bed. I slept until 9 then woke up and drank more water and tea. It has been difficult finding exactly what position I’m comfortable in. Laying flatter feels good some times, by sitting up does too. Confusing.

My groin area, where coils and stent were inserted, isn’t nearly as sore as it has been in the past, so that’s nice. They did use the angio seal plug this time so I think that helps a great deal. I have some special instructions and directions to follow with the plug, which is different than not having one, but I’m glad I don’t have to deal with too much pain down there. The head pain is enough.

I’m trying to get up every few hours and walk around to keep things moving. And we have some good meals waiting for us in the freeze for later.

My follow-up with Dr. Ecker is scheduled for Monday. I have a list of questions started. I’m supposed to now stay on Plavix and Aspirin, but I don’t know how long yet. I’m also going to have to find out what a good replacement for Prosac is since it has a drug interaction with Plavix. Goody.

At this point I still don’t know WHEN he’ll attempt to do the additional coils through the stent. The stent should keep the coils in the aneurysm now, but he likes to give the stent time to adhere completely to the width and shape of the artery before attempting the coiling in case they move the stent. It’s still a little touchy right now as far as it moving, or dislodging something that could cause issues. I’ll be taking it easy.

Dave, as usual, was wonderful through all of this. We both kept our senses of humor and he sat with me as much as he could, even feeding me chicken noodle soup when I couldn’t sit up in bed in recovery. Unfortunately, with all of the sitting in one spot he did in waiting rooms, he threw his back out! LOL We’re in great shape.

The sun is shining, we saw geese on the stream for the first time this morning, and I’m alive. Trying not to complain. Trying.

Things To Do This Week

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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!

First Day of The Weekend

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I spent the first day of this weekend keeping my mind and body busy. Groceries was first on the list, and what a list it was! Thankfully, the weather was better today. Two hours later I was home and ready to cook!

I thought I’d try some freeze-ahead meals for Dave and I so neither one of us will have to worry about getting groceries or meal planning and cooking at the end of the week when I get home from the hospital.

So, I started with a treat for St.Patrick’s day, assuming I’ll be home like I’m supposed to be. I whipped up the Irish Beef Hand Pies from Martha Stewart. VERY easy to make and freeze. I hope they taste good. LOL

Next on the list was a comfort food dish recipe from Martha Stewart for Macaroni &
Cheese. I think this will hit the spot. After that I made some low-fat blueberry muffins (not from scratch, but from a mix).

THEN I made Dave and I dinner, which was Mustard-Braised Sausage & Potato Skillet. A very easy, one-dish meal I’ve made before.

Needless to say, I was pooped at the end of the day and we lose an hour of sleep tonight with the time change, so I’m sure I’ll be a useless lump on the couch tomorrow. But I sure feel good about what I accomplished today and I know we’ll both appreciate the pre-made meals later in the week when we need a good dinner.

Tomorrow I start the Plavix and Aspirin routine. I’m hoping my system handles the new MEDS okay.

My Brain

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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.