I'm 33, married to a wonderful man for 10 years, we have 2 beautiful boys, ages 6 and 8 ( 7 and 9 in June), my Dad is still living and planning his wedding for this summer to a very nice lady, I have 4 sisters and 1 brother.
My mom died from a ruptured aneurysm on June 25, 2000. I found this site soon after and have learned so much from all of you, it has been such a big help, especially now, I am waiting for surgery to clip MY aneurysm now. After my mom passed, we were told we should all be checked, for some reason I knew I needed to be checked, I just felt I had to be, I started having terrible headaches in Sept. of 2000, by Dec. the headaches were making me vomit, and feel terrible, so I made an appointment with my doctor. I have always had headaches, it isn't normal for me to go a day without a headache, but I explained the history to the doctor ( besides my mom, her uncle and grandfather also died from ruptured aneurysms)
Thank God he listened and sent me to a neurologist. I went to him and he sent me for a MRI, 2 weeks later they called me and right on the phone said I had an aneurysm and someone from the neurosurgeons office would contact me soon to make arrangements to meet with him..... it blew me away !! So I waited, and waited..... FINALLY, went to see the surgeon, he sent me for the angiogram (which I had no problem with, I was scared to death from all the stories I'd read, but it was no big deal for me, no pain medicine, I have a high threshold for pain I guess. So, after the test I asked if they could tell me what they found, sure enough, its an 8 mm aneurysm, so..... then I went home and waited somemore. Went back to the surgeon a couple of weeks later and talked with him about my options and decided to go ahead with the craniotomy.
So, this started in September of 2000, started seeing doctors in December of 2000 and will FINALLY have surgery on June 14 2001. I find all I do anymore in my spare time is come to this website and others like it to find out all I can. I have even watched the actual surgery on the Internet, very interesting. I feel I need to know everything I can about this in order to deal with it correctly. I have so many feelings. I have decided my mom died so that I could live. I truly believe she died so that I would find this and have it taken care of. So I feel guilt, I'm scared, I'm mad. I have been taking Prozac for depression for years so you can imagine I'm depressed !!! I just feel everything !!!
So far 3 of my siblings have been tested and are fine, and the other 2 have appointments and should know before my surgery. I hope they will be fine also, I have a feeling its just me, I hope so, I don't want them going through this. So from the time I made the surgery date, I will wait 6 weeks for my surgery, with this time bomb in my head !!! Only about 20 days to go now, ( my mom died June 25, 2000 and I'm having surgery June 14, 2001 ). My sons are so young, they will have birthdays in June. I know they are scared for me, as is my husband, and everyone else. I'm afraid that something will happen in surgery, or after, the depression everyone talks about, and memory loss etc. Its all so scary !!
Everyone knows the risks, mine is apprently pressing on my optic nerve behind my right eye, so I could lose sight in that eye. You all know all the things I'm thinking and am afraid of. I just needed to tell my story and maybe recieve some support like you all said you have recieved from each other. My husband and family are great, but they don't fully understand like you all do. I'm afraid after the surgery they will expect me to be fine and I see all the things that can affect you, but you look fine so they think you should be. I'm rambling now !! If anyone has any words of wisdom, or hints about my surgery, please let me know, they say I will only be in the hospital 3 days, so I will let you all know how I am after my surgery.
Thanks for being there !! You all have been a great help already !!
Update 21 Jun 2001
Just wanted to let you all know I made it through surgery and I'm home and on the mend !
First I want to thank you all for all your prayers and support, I couldn't believe the amount of support I received from you all when I told my story, I was so glad I did, you are a great "family" to have, and I hope to be able to help people get through this just as you all did me.
So, my surgery to clip my aneurysm was on June 14th. I came home 5 days later and am doing well, besides a few slight headaches and some swelling in my face, and of course these lovely staples, (29 in all !!!!!), I'm doing ok. I was pretty miserable the first few days, but that was because my pain med. was making me sick, my head really hasn't hurt much. I go next week and get the staples out and hopefully will be on the way to putting this behind me.
My surgery was at Hamot Medical Center, Erie PA, my doctor is Dr. Daniel Loesch, and it took about 4 and a half hours. My family was quite worried in the waiting room, but I guess because it was pressing on my optic nerve it was a little trickier to find a clip they liked on it, actually the Doctor told my family they would see how that was and if I had too much pressure they'd have to go back in and file some of the bone, I said I don't think so !!! should have done that while they were in there, I can't imagine going through this again, I don't know how you guys do it that have had more than 1 surgery. Hopefully its ok, so far its fine.
Well, theres my update, thanks again for all your support, I have truly lived day to day with your support getting me through, of course my family has been wonderful ! But you all are different, you understand !
Prayers and hugs to all of you.