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Confused over hubby's aneurysm


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hubby had his intra-cerebral bleed 3 months ago and he had a blood clot removed from his brain, but no coiling or clipping was done.

now we're waiting for him to be moved closer to home the hospital has done an angiogram and have found the aneurysm which needs attention. they said they'll try coiling it sometime next week and if that fails then they'll go inside and clip it.

i'm kicking myself for not asking the doctor this afternoon why they've waited until now to give him the angiogram and do something about the aneurysm -he's been in hospital for so long so i don't understand why they've left it so long.

has anyone else experienced anything like this?

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Maybe they had to stabilise him and remove the blood clot first which probably would have posed more of a danger than the aneurysm .... could probably be a lot of medical reasons as to why and would imagine that they have to weigh up the risks to your husbands condition at that point and that may be surgery posed too much of a risk at that time. I would imagine that they would have had a good medical reason for the delay, so ask them the question. xx

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One thing I learnt at a follow up is that the bleeding will usually stop immediately after the rupture, the pressure in the head stems the bleeding so it is the blood that has already escaped that causes the damage initially and causes the brain trauma and they work on stabilising the patient before they do anything else.

In my case the hydrocephalus that had developed with my bleed was the greater of the two threats. If the hydro was left to build up it would have killed me very quickly, if the bleed was left there was risk it could bleed again and also kill me. What to do? They operated for the hydrocephalus first to place an EVD to reduce pressure and then only when I was stable enough was I coiled. For me there wasn't a massive time lag but the surgeons at the time did indicate they would wait as long as they needed to. I also have another Annie they watch on me now which isn't coiled.

I think questions need to be asked of the team why they have waited so long to act but hopefully it will help to know that his aneurysm hasn't been bleeding all this time. I kinda figured once it burst it would have just kept on bleeding but that's not the case. If that does happen I am afraid the person has no chance to survive the event, god bless them.

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thanks all - i'm waiting on a phone call from the vascular specialist and i'll ask her why it's taken so long. hubby is devastated that he's not moving nearer to home just yet and can't understand why they won't just let him go. i keep trying to explain that this will hopefully stop any further trouble in his head but he just doesn't understand enough about it yet.

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Hopefully you will get the answers and it will put your mind at rest, but it must be frustrating for you all and seem never ending. Hopefully, if it's just the coiling op and there are no delays at the hospital, things might start moving forward for you all.

My Mother in Law was coiled, she had an unruptured aneurysm and she was literally only in hospital for a couple of days and apart from having to rest up a little, she was fine. It's the fall out from bleed that causes the problems. May be it might be worth asking about the recovery time scale post operation.

Good luck xxx

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i hope it works. they've told him the worst case scenario is more brain surgery to do clipping so now he's convinced that that's what will happen. his bi-polar hasn't been bad at all since he's been in the hospital but i can see he's at risk from an episode with all the stress this is putting on him. i don't often wish time away, but i wish it was next week and the whole procedure was over and done with. :frown:

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Bless you and I hope that you can keep positive. They must think that coiling is a good first option to try and that the aneurysm shape is suitable to hold the coils in. Try to remember that they have given you the worse case scenario, which is worrying for you all, but it won't necessarily happen ... but obviously a patient has to sign a consent form before the op so they have to give you all the facts and the "just in case" scenario... they did the same with me before I gave my consent and signed.

Hope that you can get hold of somebody at the hospital to speak to with your concerns. xx

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This is something that you would have to ask his medical team, as I was able to sign my own surgery consent form albeit with some help and was coiled about 3 or 4 days after my bleed, when I was more stable. I have no idea what happens if you're not able to sign. xx

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My hubby signed mine for the coiling but when I had the emergency drain inserted nobody signed. I had dropped into a coma in a split second and all hell let loose apparently, they only had about 10 mins to get me into theatre and the drain inserted. Hubby was told they didn't have time to scrub, just gloves and gown on and do it.

No time for anyone to sign. Apparently no consent does not matter in an emergency such as that. I think they do what needs to be done and worry about it later.

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My experience was similar to Penny's.

My family had been sent home following the emergency admittance and my coiling operation was scheduled for the following day. Unfortunately I dropped into a coma that night, my family were asked to come back to the hospital around midnight and told I was not likely to survive.

My son and daughter rushed back in to find I was already on the operating table for the EVD insertion and the surgeon requested verbal consent from my daughter over the telephone whilst he was operating on me!

Must have been extremely scary for them both.

Hope all goes well for your hubby,

Wem

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wow - scary stories!!!! :shock:

had a chat tonight and apparently they were waiting to do the angiogram when he was more compliant as they didn't want to give him another general anaesthetic. they're pretty confident the coiling will do the trick so it's just a matter of waiting until next week now.

they also gave him a scan today to see if there was any reason for his double vision. he's got a patch on his eye today so he can see :smile1:

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