Survey Says...

WOW... it's been a wild day.

We arrived at UCSF at 3:00 today (traditional Hammons style, an hour early to wait longer than necessary). After filling out a mountain of paperwork, we finally got the call to meet with the Doctor.

We met with one of the nurses for Dr. Lawton to give her the breakdown... then, it was the Doctor.

Doctor Lawton was a very friendly and a very personable individual that we all gravitated to very easily. He informed us that the prime culprit is the 8mm aneurysm along the communicative artery. It's size is the biggest concern... typically the threshold for operating on these things is the 7mm mark, so he said it would be best to proceed with a procedure. After looking at the scans that we brought up from Fresno, he was fairly confident that the shape was that of an open head (not what we were looking for), which means that the coil procedure is not the best course of action. If the coil was to be done, it would leave some possible openings for blood to pool up and we'd be back in this situation later on (possibly).

We were left with the option of doing a typical angiogram or another procedure called a CT gram (computer generated). We opted for the CT gram as there is only a 1% variable in comparing the two test, and since the problem has been isolated, the extra pain and hassle of the angiogram isn't worth it at this point.

SO.....


We're going in!

Dr. Lawton highly recommend clipping the aneurysm (and possible, it's little sister) as to avoid any possible recurrence in the future. This (unfortunately) means that he must do a bit of shaving to get it done!

He plans to shave a bit off of Mom's hair along the left side of her hairline up to the widows peak. Then, just above the left eye socket, he'll remove a small part of the skull to proceed to the place of the aneurysms and clip (them SOB's). If he can get them both, he will, but he will obviously focus on the primary target (stay on target... stay on target...). He described that he does the entire procedure "by hand" and will be using a microscope to enlarge the image.

The aneurysm(s) is located between the two hemispheres on the bottom part of the brain, and he iterated to us that he doesn't have to go "into the brain" at all, but will just be cruising right below it to clip it off. The procedure will take approximately four hours and is currently scheduled for May 14th (Mom flirted with him to be the first one that day) at 6:00am in the morning. May 13th will be the day for the CT gram and other blood tests and what not. Her hospital stay will be about four days, and will not have to come back for any follow-ups (unlike the coil procedures, which has a lot of baggage associated with it).

THE PROS
- This was found by accident, and we're lucky to not have it burst on us.
- The procedure we opted for is the best scenario, and will eliminate this problem.
- The occluded right artery is nothing that caused this... what they read in the charts today was more of a wiring thing (something she was born with) and is nothing we are going to deal with.
- The second aneurysm is so small that he'll try to fix it if he can.

THE CONS
- They are opening her freaking skull (I guess to match dad... I mean, they don't wear wedding rings...)
- We're not exactly sure of any complications... frankly I (and I'm sure mom was too) was a bit too afraid to ask... it was enough to digest for any appetite. I'll call this week to find out more.

So for now, we have a three week countdown for another date in San Francisco. No restrictions other than rest and staying off the Advil.

The City By The Bay

This is going to prove to be an eventful week. We have a scheduled appointment at UCSF this Thursday afternoon at 4 o'clock! As with everything else with this thing, we don't exactly know what to expect with this appointment. We could be here a few days for a procedure, or this could be something that gets scheduled for a later date. I'll be sure to post something quickly after the meeting!

the wait continues

I think I am speaking on behalf of the rest of the family, but after meeting with the local surgeon, there has been a tad bit of ease to our step. He explained to us that there's a 6% chance that anyone of us can develop a brain aneurysm. With where we are standing with mom (again, without him looking at any pictures to date), there's a 1% chance that this thing can turn bad. That percentage increases 1% for each additional year we do nothing. So as of right now, that is .2%.

We received word from UCSF yesterday that they are ready to receive us up there, but we are still waiting on the insurance to improve the referrals. The doctor(s) that we are going to see take new patients on Thursdays, so it's looking like it'll be a next Thursday before we can get up there and do an Angiogram.

I'll be able to meet Mom & Dad up there... actually, they will meet me as I'll already be up there for a conference. It's just a matter of getting things approved with the insurance. Looks like I'll be talking with Alice today!

We continue to wait.

Hurry up to wait...

Wow... today was a very busy day for us... on the phone as well as on the road.

The day started out with the usual call to Mom to make sure she's feeling ok, which she was. She's been doing great through all this, with the occasional time of realizing what we have to deal with, but for the most part, doing great.

It was about 10:00 this morning that mom got word that Stanford called and confirmed that she had an appointment at 2:30 today. I think we were all amazed at how fast that actually happened. I then followed this up with a call to Alice (in the local office here) to make sure that we were all set to proceed with this great news. She then informed me that the insurance denied this claim, but had referred her to UCSF. She also wanted to confirm that we were still keeping the appointment with the local surgeon to wrap things up. Shortly before I left work to meet Mom & Dad at the surgeon's office, I got a call from Alice and said that UCSF has confirmed that they received all of the info and that mom will be seeing three different doctors (for three separate matters), but that the insurance needed to approve this.

Then, it was the adventure to the surgeon's office at 3:30pm. First, we were given bad directions, and I was able to quickly get on my phone and find the correct location (which ended up being only 4 minutes from work). This doctor was extremely helpful in explaining things to us (although, there was a bit of an accent, so it wasn't 100% clear). He explained the aneurysm that she has... a Communicative Artery Aneurysm. As we discussed it more, and the fact that she has an Occluded Right Artery, he mentioned how he can fix these. This doctor had not seen any of the pictures of the symptoms, but could only read the reports of others, but it was really helpful for him to explain everything.

It's hard for any doctor at this point to tell us how we can proceed since we don't know the shape and exact size of the aneurysm... we have to have an Angiogram in order to get this information. As they are doing this (up at UCSF, hopefully), they can possible go in and fix it with the Coil Procedure all in one setting. This procedure if non-invasive (through the artery in the leg), as opposed to through the skull, mouth, or nose. If all goes as planned (best case scenario), then it's a short trip to the hospital. The doctors at UCSF invented this procedure, and do over 600 a year, so if it happens there, we're the in the best hands possible.

He explained that Mom is in good shape (considering), and that's it's not an emergency situation to have this handled, but it's not something we want to wait on. Towards the end of this conversation, we concluded (the doctor as well) that this meeting was unnecessary since we're working on the referrals to go to UCSF. You might ask why we had the meeting.... excellent question, we're wondering yourself. The doctor said we didn't have to meet with him, but I'm guessing it was a matter of trying to exhaust all resources here. But yet, he never received the pictures for him to review. (Mom & I went by the imaging place, and have CD's in hand for whatever doctor we see next).

Although the doctor said this trip was "wasted time", I think we all feel it was good to have some more information in hand, knowing that we are ok for now. We still have to get more information about what all is going to be done (nothing was mentioned about the occluded artery, which could be a cause for the aneurysm). Hopefully tomorrow we can share some more!

The beginning... or close to it.

Well, today was the first "work day" knowing what's in store for us. I had the "pleasure" (and I use that term very loose) of being the person to call the insurance & Primary Doctors office today to see where we stand. To my surprise, everything was progressing better than i thought. I talked to a great lady today named Alice in the referrals office. When I called to explain our situation, she instantly knew who I was talking about and then informed me that all of the documentation was faxed off to Stanford and the proper insurance authorities on Friday afternoon. WOW... what I thought was a dormant situation was already progressing by 830 this morning.

Within 20 minutes, Alice called me back to inform me she was going to schedule an appointment for mom with the local surgeon who handles these type of cases to "wrap everything up here". As much as I hate all of this, I'm looking forward to talking to the surgeon tomorrow to actually understand a bit more of what we have to expect. Up till now, I just know it's something to fear, given the history of our family (my father suffered from a ruptured aneurysm in his early 20's while in the Coast Guard!).

Here's to hoping tomorrow goes well. Hopefully all of the insurance and referrals get to where they need to, and then we'll see where we stand.

Hanging in there!