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.

It’s Brain Aneurysm Awareness Week

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Hello, I’m Heidi and I’m a survivor. I’m one of the lucky ones. The statistics are quite sobering and I am trying to do my part in raising brain aneurysm awareness this week.

A diagnosis of an aneurysm isn’t necessarily a death sentence, nor should it be viewed as a “ticking time bomb”. I would think a person should consider themselves lucky. Lucky that it was discovered. Lucky that they have options. Lucky that THEY have the power to do something and lucky to be alive. The medical procedures available today allow a person to LIVE with an aneurysm, not necessarily die because of one. Those are much better statistics.

Understanding the signs and symptoms (if you have any) as well as diagnosis with early screening are vital to survival.

I have two first cousins who had aneurysms. If I had been more informed to the risks of hereditary aneurysms, I may have found my aneurysm before it ruptured. I now have another aneurysm, but I know so much more as a result of the first one that I have a fighting chance….but only because I survived the initial rupture.

Like I said…I’m one of the lucky ones. Please help us raise awareness.

Bumper Sticker

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I had 5 bumper stickers made through CafePress online. They came out great and I finally was able to get out to my messy car and put it on. I’m proud to display the fact I survived my ruptured brain aneurysm and that I’m still LIVING with one.

And if the bumper sticker should happen to spark a conversation with someone who is unaware of brain aneurysms, then all the better.

That Little Voice

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It’s funny…for the most part, I rarely think about my small unruptured aneurysm on a daily basis. I know it’s there, but I don’t know yet if it has grown in the year since it was discovered or if there are any issues with the larger one that ruptured. I’ll find that out when I go for an angiogram sometime in June AFTER our trip to England & Scotland.

However, with my impending gallbladder surgery FINALLY happening this Friday, that little annoying voice in the back of my head that reminds me of the aneurysms has reared its ugly head. Not that I’m overly anxious or nervous about the gallbladder surgery, but it still is surgery…I’ll still be put under anesthesia and I’ll be having things inserted and an actual organ removed from my body. Things “could” happen….that little voice says.

After yelling at that voice to leave me alone, it’s a simple procedure, and it has NOTHING to do with you for a change, it finally does quiet down. I’ve been treated very well at Maine Medical Center and I liked the surgeon and her staff, so I have no qualms about the procedure itself. I’ve survived a ruptured brain aneurysm, a stenting and recoiling, so this should be a walk in the park, right? I hope so.

I don’t want to think about those darn aneurysms again until I have to. So you just listen to me little voice…this has nothing to do with you and those pesky brain aneurysms. Silence!