The Deal
After waiting what seemed a torturous amount of time, Dad, Mom and myself were able to speak to the Interventional Radiologist who performed Mom's "surgery" last night. First, he was able to do take care of the aneurysm without opening her head---a huge improvement in approach from all standpoints.
Fiber optics and other instruments and materials were guided through her veins until the abnormality was discovered and evaluated. The physician took a good deal of time to sketch out the location of the defect and characterize it for us. It was 11 mm in size; the threshold for intervention for intact aneurysms is 3 mm (at least those in the brain)---this particular physician said he'd never seen one that size before. He also indicated that it was showing signs of being very close to rupture. He told us that we owed the referring Ophthamologic Neurologist t big time; that he had saved Mom's life, pure and simple.
There was plenty of scary talk the many signs of averted doom. He did report that he discovered two additional aneurisms that were 2 mm in size---not sufficiently large to warrant the risks associated with repair. Unfortunately for Mom, the news gets bad at this point. The risk factors for increasing size are :
- smoking (Mom has a 50 year history of smoking)
- diabetes mellitus (Mom has Type II)
- hypertension (strike 3)
The good doctor did not mince words about what MUST happen to keep the patient from repeating this episode. Mom received the news as those who know her might expect.
Moving Forward
Kind of anticlimactic, but there's no news here. Beyond making some very difficult lifestyle changes, Mom will have to undergo arteriograms per six months for the next two years. She has lifting restrictions for a while as the femoral artery entry site heals and she's quite tired so she needs to rest. Her headaches should resolve over the next month or so as the defect slowly atrophies and relieves the pressure it was causing on the trigeminal nerve. Its unclear whether her pupil issue will resolve.
We have some concerns over her emotional status---a scary thing has happened and all of you know that at age not all that old Mom has now dodged two bullets: the heart attack just before Lyman and Carrie's wedding and this. She is certainly shook up. Additionally, she seems pretty labile and goes from giddy to weepy to snappy to combative in less than a blink of an eye. All quite reasonable for a short time but if it doesn't get better soon we'll need to start considering whether she's had some cognitive changes associated with the aneurysm or its repair.
In all, I'd still say it beats the alternative. Thanks to all for your kind words, deeds, vibe, prayers and information dissemination.
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