What I will tell you is that family history cannot be discounted from the equation. What I can also tell you is that an aneurysm is a vein disease. In my family many of the women suffer varicose veins. Varicose veins are ruptured blood vessels. And while on the surface, they may not seem as serious as an aneurysm, they do cause separate problems, one of them being the possibility of clotting. What people don't realize is that blood clots are serious. They can start off in your legs and travel upward toward your brain. For this reason, now when there is an extended hospital stay or any hospital stay that requires you to be less than ambulatory, nurses and physicians will hook up these non-fashionable leg warmers that are meant to simulate blood circulation. In other words, these things are wrapped around your legs and they give you a massage. And this massage is meant to keep the blood circulating in your legs to keep you from forming blood clots.
I had some of the best doctors in the region who worked on me. What many also do not know is that this is not my first battle with an aneurysm. In August of 2017, an unruptured aneurysm was discovered in my brain. It was only by the luck of the draw, or fortune, or the blessing of God that it was discovered before it came problematic. According to both Dr. Lieu, my radiologist, and the aneurysm research website, statistically around 1 in 50 people walk around their entire lives with an aneurysm. Most do not rupture. However, those with a strong family history are more likely to encounter problems. Therefore, it is especially prudent to have a strong relationship with your primary care doctor.
I went for my annual physical and told my doctor that my mother had passed. Her being aware of my medical history led her to write an order for me to have an MRI, just to be on the safe side. However, my routine MRI turned out not to be so routine as they found an aneurysm growing in my brain stem. In terms of size, it was a little thing--less than the quarter of a dime. However, putting it in perspective, think that your larger veins are not much wider than a strand of yarn. And before you ask, no, I had not been having any symptoms. I was just walking around enjoying life. I very rarely had to take my allergy medication, much less anything else. So this was truly my opportunity to be proactive.
In September, I completed my first angiogram, which is a common procedure for viewing aneurysms, giving a more exact photo of what and where the aneurysm is. An angiogram is essentially a process where doctors shoot colored ink into your veins and arteries of your brain to highlight any issues. The entire process takes about 3 hours as they inject and photograph. Oh, and did I mention, for most angiograms, it is common procedure to keep the patient conscious during the process? In addition, the doctors talk you through the process and warn you of what sensations you should feel as they shoot ink into various areas of your brain. But it is not an exact science. The brain controls every part of your body. As such, there is still so much that's not known about its actual function. Sure, the doctors can guesstimate what goes on where, but since each person is different, each reaction is different. For instance, the doctors were able to accurately warn me when I would feel cooling sensations and warming sensations on my face. However, when they came to the last part where they had to shoot ink into my brain, they prepared me for several different scenarios: I might feel disoriented or confused. What they didn't warn me is that I would feel the urge to run all of a sudden. So while I still remained conscious of where I was what I was doing, I suddenly had an urge to run a marathon! I even told them that I'm fine but I have to run! Luckily, they were prepared for this eventuality and had strapped me down so that I couldn't run. The reality is that I may have had small seizure.
And then the angiogram was over.
After the angiogram was completed, my doctor said to me that most people can return to work the next day. That was not the case for me. I had my angiogram on a Wednesday, and I was not fully prepared for work until the following Monday. I had a delayed reaction disorientation. As a result, I felt unsteady and dizzy. Little did I know that your blood pressure fluctuates from laying to sitting to standing, especially if you do these items too rapidly. So I had trouble rising. I also had trouble dressing. I was fine putting on clothes, but had trouble distinguishing colors and textures when it came to my shoes. For example, I went to work on Monday with two different pairs of shoes. Then I turned around and did the same thing Thursday! On Monday, I didn’t notice my faux pax until around noon and could at least play it off saying that I dressed in the dark because they were two very similar flats. But on Thursday, I came to work late because I got out of my car, noticed that my gait felt different, only to look down and realize I had on a brown leather heel and a patent black heel! I waited for the nearest Payless shoe store to open at 9 o’clock, went in, grabbed a pair of shoes, and then went to work!
So naturally, I was expecting the same reaction of the angiogram for the surgery. And in anticipation I took 2 weeks off. This was not the case. The operation actually went smoother than the initial angiogram. I spent one night and came back. The first week my niece and my husband stayed home. Because of my trouble with the angiogram, the doctor suggested I take twice as much time off for the actual procedure. The second week my niece went back to Atlanta and my husband back to work, and they left me to shop on QVC! After two weeks, I was cleared to drive and return to work on Halloween.
All was well, or so I thought. Three days later my dad fell into a coma and 10 days after that he passed. Because he was military, his burial and headstone were free. However, we had to work around the Thanksgiving holiday. So we eventually buried him the weekend after Thanksgiving on a Monday. Keep in mind that I have lost my mother in March of the same year, my grandmother in August 2013 (the year I turned 40), my brother in October of 2014, 2 uncles, two aunts, a teenage student, and a mentor. In addition, for most of 2017, I had an acid reflux issue that just would not go away. At first, I thought it was merely a symptom of getting older and menopause. However, after consulting with my primary care doctor and my gynecologist, neither had any viable proof and my primary care doctor placed me on a very strong version of Pepcid AC and told me to take it for 45 days.
Eventually, the problem seemed to solve itself. So my girls and I decided that we should go out and celebrate St. Patty's Day and we did so in style. We started off at an Irish pub called Grill 45 which is really good by the way. Then we left there an attempted to go to another party. Turns out that the place had just finished holding one private event and was closing until the next one started. So we ended up at a default bar called The Bottom Line. It's a nice small venue but it's not really my favorite place to go. As a result, I ended up drinking way more than I should have, mostly because I was bored. We finished up around 9 p.m. and I drove home. It is by the absolute grace of God that I made it home intact (although my garage door will say differently). However, I had to go to the bathroom and rushed in the house. I used the downstairs bathroom and apparently stayed in the bathroom so long that my husband was calling me. For whatever reason, I decided against putting on the bottom half of my clothes and went upstairs with just my top where I probably passed out on the bed until the next morning. My husband woke me up early thinking that we had to be where we were early. I asked him to let me go back to sleep and he did. But then I discovered that I had to go to the bathroom.
So I went to the bathroom for number two and after number two I promptly turned around and threw up into the toilet bowl. After both of those incidents, I started to feel a little woozy. So I decided to lie down before I fell down. I may have blacked out for a minute, but after I was conscious I had the presence of mind to call my husband and ask for help. He came in and saw me lying on the floor and wondered what the hell had happened because I was lying on the floor naked with the shower running. I told him I wasn't feeling well and that I couldn't move my neck. He asked me if he should call nine-one-one and after a second when I still could not move my neck, I complied and agreed that he should. This is what probably saved my life. The First Responders came immediately, stuck me in an ambulance, and took me to the nearest hospital. The hospital determined that I had a ruptured aneurysm but said that they couldn't treat it. So I was flown by Medevac helicopter to Washington Hospital Center where I had originally had my first procedure. They took me immediately into the operating room and clamped my second aneurysm, which had stemmed off of the first one and put me the neural ICU, where I stayed for 2 and 1/2 Weeks.
I was released on a Friday afternoon April 6th. It is now Sunday evening and while I am not 100%, I am definitely far better than I was a week ago.
Yes, this is an abbreviated version and more will come later, but I wanted to chronicle this portion while it was still fresh.
