The end of 2015 was a rough time for me. Two very important things happened in October. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and I took a very devastating fall. I will discuss the Hashi’s in a later post, but right now I want to talk about the fall.
I’ve fallen before, in fact at least two other times in the last 40 years. (That doesn’t sound like a bad set of odds to me.) However, this tumble turned out to be frightening. This time I banged my head against the linoleum floor opening up a big gash in my forehead. Needless to say, I panicked–foreheads can bleed profusely when cut. SInce you could see the bone, we decided I should go to the emergency room.
At the ER, I explained that I had a dizzy spell, so the doctor decided to run a CAT scan. On the scan they saw what they thought might be an aneurysm in the brain, and ran an MRI. Unfortunately, the results showed I did have an aneurysm .
I was immediately referred to a neurosurgeon who, after looking at the MRI, decided to do an angiogram. An angiogram is a procedure where they insert dye through an artery into the brain in order to see more clearly what’s going on, sort of a 3D image.
The results of the angiogram suggested that, although I may have had the aneurysm for a while, it is growing 3 to 4% larger every year and needs to be taken care.
There are two ways to take care of an aneurysm. One is to cut open the skull to go in and clipped it so it doesn’t get any more blood. The other way is to go through the same artery that they used for the angiogram and insert coils into the aneurysm. The coils helps the blood clot, also stopping more blood from entering the aneurysm. The second option is less invasive and you can leave the hospital in a day. Thankfully, it is this second procedure that the doctor said he will be able to do on me.
Treatment doesn’t stop there, though. For the next few years I will have to have an MRI done every six months to make sure everything is okay, and I will have to take an aspirin daily for the rest of my life.
This is a scary time for me right now. It is still brain surgery,even though he doesn’t go directly into the brain through the sKull. Obviously, there are risks with this procedure. The doctor went through the list of things that could happen before verify that I was still willing to go through the procedure. Considering the alternative, doing nothing and waiting for it to burst, which could lead to disability or death, I think I’d rather go with the brain surgery.
Right now, I’m waiting for the procedure to be scheduled. I’m nervous, but I know that I have one of the best doctors in the country doing the work. However, I’m still putting my trust in God because He is the actual one in control.
Please pray with me that the doctors hands are skillful and the procedure is successful.
BTW, it’s taken me a while to write this post, because it’s so much to process. I hope I explained it clearly. If you have any questions, or comments, feel free to leave them below. I appreciate you all, and want to thank you for being here for me.
