Well that wasn’t quite what we expected to hear (May 2015)

May 2015: Here’s what things looked like five months post surgery.  Things seem well, feeling great.  People we talk to are still surprised that I’m alive and I’ve gotten quite used to getting up, driving, working full-time, and generally feeling great for the past four months (almost as if nothing happened).

That Friday I had what was a standard followup to the coiling procedure that was done to block-off future blood flow to the aneurysm that so suddenly threatened my life back in December of 2014.

Sure we braced ourselves a little for the possibility of some unexpected news, but overall I became quite confident that all was well and the hardest part was far behind us – and this exam was just a routine activity.

I laid in the recovery room waiting for the Dr. to stop by before sending me home.  When he arrived I asked (over-confidently) “well, was it a success?”

Seriously He replied. “Well, that depends on how you define success.  If by success you mean we got thru the procedure, then yes. ”  He then went on to report that unfortunately the surgery back in December was not totally successful and that the aneurysm appears to be reforming.  What this means is that we need to do the surgery again in a few weeks.  So in June 2015 there was another surgery which included additional coiling and the addition of a new, somewhat experimental, mesh stent to help bypass the aneurysm in my brain.

Six months later, In December 2015, a follow-up angiogram procedure indicated that all was stable and healing and that additional surgery was not indicated. So far so good!  They’ll follow-up again in June of 2016 and re-assess.