Category: Medical Procedures

Test and Test Results

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Today I was given the results of my CT scan that I had of my sinuses the other day and all looked good. I’m thankful nothing serious showed up, but disappointed there wasn’t something there that had been causing me all those sinus issues for year. Plan B I guess.

I also received the call on my angiogram appointment. It’s next Thursday! I was thinking maybe two or three weeks out, so I’d have time to prepare (worry!) about it, but not next week. And it’s very early in the morning at 7 a.m. so we’ll need to leave very early to get there. Traffic shouldn’t be a problem at that hour hopefully.

Of course I’m already nervous about the test, even though I have been reassured by other annie survivors that it’s not as bad as one thinks it will be. I hope that is the case.

Then wanting to get the results will be the next thing I worry about. Chances are, things will look fine around my annie, but there ARE chances thing won’t be and I’m trying not to think about that. Trying is the operative word there! How could one NOT think about the good & the bad. Human nature I think. But I’ll try to concentrate on NOT worrying about something I have no control over. Wish me luck!

I have to go in for some blood work and will do that here in Augusta since it’s far closer. I haven’t found out yet when that will be.

I have been feeling good, other than the sinus stuff and being extremely tired after working longer hours, so I should have nothing to be concerned about. Right?

Bills, Bills, and More Bills

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I have been receiving medical bills since before I ever got home from the hospital. I’ve been instructed by many different parties to “hold off” on paying any of them due to an
insurance company switch at work and people not billing the correct insurance agencies among other things.

I don’t understand a lot of it and it’s very frustrating. I’m not used to setting bills aside (especially big bills) and not paying them. There’s such a sense of responsibility in me that it’s makes me very uncomfortable and uneasy. A few have informed me they were sending the bills to collection agencies and some how we’ve been able to hold that off, but it’s all so involved and confusing that I feel very inadequate because I don’t understand it and that it’s completely out of my control. I don’t enjoy having my financial status in limbo with all these agencies and medical operations. I’m used to paying my bills on time and getting things taken care of in the alloted amount of time. Just frustrating.

Dentist

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Well, today I discovered what my neuroradiologist meant when he said “antibiotic prophylactic” at the tail end of my follow-up check up in November in response to my asking a question about a dentist appointment. Unfortunately, he didn’t tell me I needed a prescription for it, what type of antibiotic I needed and that I needed to take it one hour before even a cleaning at my dentist.

I found this out this morning when I just mentioned antibiotic prophylactic before my cleaning. Red flags were thrown, they tried to call the Dr’s office and couldn’t get through and I had to turn around and come home and will call the Dr’s office
this afternoon to try and get an answer.

I am kicking myself for not asking sooner, but I really didn’t know what it was, nor how, or whom to ask. Thankfully, the dental technician was very helpful. My Neuroradiologist….was not.

I reschedule my dental appointment for the 2nd time and will try it again in a couple of weeks. I may have to take them forever before any kind of a dental procedure that might trigger bleeding. Or maybe only for a year or so. I don’t know. It’s to ward off any kind of risk for bacteria getting into my blood stream, which makes sense….NOW! LOL It’s quite common for people who have had specific types of surgery

Sometimes Too Much

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There are several aneurysm survivor’s message boards/support groups out there online. While I was still in the hospital, I found it very comforting to talk to someone who was going through the same thing. If there were a local group here in Maine of people who survived aneurysms,  I’d probably be going to that as well.

But, for all the help, comfort and positive reinforcement I have been given on the message board I belong to, it can also be a bit scary. There are many survivors who have gone through, and continue to go through much worse after-effects and problems than I have. For those folks, I don’t know what to say. I can’t imagine living with multiple unruptured annies. Little time-bombs waiting to go off unless they can be
operated on. I had one…I just didn’t know it.

There are people who have gone through less than me as well. Some are lucky enough to have found their annies during a scan BEFORE they rupture and have the surgery. We all go through some of the same symptoms, but no two stories are exactly alike, which causes me some upset.

Although my last MRI looked good, I’m worried that something else will show up on my angiogram in April. Chances are it won’t, but because I read a lot of stories of people who go back for a check up and something shows up, it has caused some concern. I hate to worry about something that may not happen, and probably won’t, but reading all the stores makes me think about it, which in turn….well, it makes me worry. I don’t lose sleep over it, I just think about it and have a twinge of concern. I’m sure as soon as the date for my angiogram gets closer, I WILL think about it more.

Sometimes I just need to step away from the message aboard for a few days and remember how lucky I am and not read the horror stories. I know that seems horribly selfish, but I need to think about me now and what I have accomplished and not take a step back and let worry consume me. So far, it hasn’t, but who knows what’ll happen down the road. Hopefully nothing! And I need to concentrate on that.

Survivor’s guilt hits me when I read the stories of others who are still suffering so much after their annies have ruptured. Why am I different from them? What led my annie to bleed less than others? Again…we’re all different, but the common denominator, and the reason I keep going back to the boards, is that we’re all survivors! God bless everyone who’s had an annie…ruptured or not.