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.