I was glad to have finally come across your web-site. Many of them wanted you to pay money and all I wanted to do was talk to someone. This is actually in regards to my best friend Carrie.
Carrrie had gone to the doctors for a hearing problem (or so she thought). She was having trouble sleeping because of a swooshing sound. She went in for a cat scan, following that was the MRA, then the MRI and then the Angiogram. Carrie is 35 years old and had no idea what she was about to face.
We are up here in Michigan and although she is confident in her Doctor, the genetic type that she has, there is not enough cases to have written documentation on. Carrie's scheduled surgery is for the 28th of May at that time they will try the coil on the right side but they won't know about the left until they take closer pictures at which they will do at the same time as the right. They laid all the pro's and con's out for her, the left aneurysm is in her sinus cavity and is on a 90 degree angle.
I keep telling myself to not think of the what if's but my mind keeps wandering to the what ifs. I have to sit down with my best friend and do a living will and a will and trust, I want someone to pinch me and tell me this is not real. Neither one of us has found are white knights and so the only shoulders are each others. When I am with her I am confident and positive but when I am away I break down and cry all the time, it is hard for me to focus I just can't imagine or even come close as to what she is going through.
The stories here are what make this so real but I need help because I want to understand this I want to be able to have that reassurance. This is the only person in my life who took the time to understand me and maybe I am being selfish but I refuse to let her go and I even told GOD that.
It would be great to hear from someone. Because if you can help me than I can be even more positive to her. Thank you so very much
Update: 13 Jun 2002
Thank you to all who have submitted your kind words and uplifting encouragements. If you have read my first narrative my best friend Carrie was scheduled for surgery on May 28, 2002. Just to give the family a very over due update: Carrie's surgery thus far has been a very big success on the 12mm aneurysm on the right side. Her doctor put the coil in as well as a stent to hold it in place. God Bless Carrie's strong will she was in surgery for six hours in recovery overnight and left to go home by 5:00pm the next day. Very high restrictions. Blood Thinners for six months, steroids for the swelling which are now all gone and aspirin for the rest of her life.
The pictures of the confirmed 4mm aneurysm on the left show that at this time they will not do any kind of surgery. The doctors will keep an eye on it and if and when it becomes larger and I suppose alarming enough for them they will clip it. Hats off and God Bless the Doctors at William Beaumont Royal Oak I say!
I talk to Carrie once if not twice a day. She is still having headaches which they told her were normal because of the coil and that they could last up to 3 months. She is scheduled to go back to work this coming Monday which would be the 17th of June. It scares me a little though she went shopping and as she walked out to the parking lot she fell. Her doctor asked if she recalls blacking out and she does not know? She just fell and was a little disoriented, messed up her foot, but she was ok. He told her that it may or may not happen again, a little scary to think she could have been driving.
My other concerns are, she feels like it takes her twice as long to do things, take a shower, get dressed, do dishes. I told her maybe at this point because it has not been long since the surgery maybe she was trying to do to much? Carrie is tired of sleeping though. But at this rate and with the headaches I am unsure how she is going to make it through an 8 hour work day? Just pray and hope that her determination and strong will keep going on and on as your inspiring words have kept me going. I will do the updated narratives periodically to let the family know how well Carrie is doing.
Thank you all so very much once again - GOD BLESS