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Posted

Hi Everyone,

I just found this website and wondered if anyone can advise. My Mother had a Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Jan 2007. While she was having her routine follow up at 2 years, she was told that the aneurysm is now 20% full again even though she has coils in place. Consultant says they are not going back in again and I'm wondering if this is because of her age as she is now 70 years old? She is now living with this time bomb as she calls it (don't know if the consultant said this to her or not) and is just waiting for it to completely refill I guess and subsequently burst again. On her recent birthday she thanked the family for the lovely meal we took her for, then mentioned that this may be her last one and she was glad she got to 70!!

Has anyone here had their coils done again a few years later? Are they more likely to repeat the procedure if you are younger or do they consider it not worthwhile regardless of age? Appreciate any replies/advice and hope you are well today. Thanks in advance.

Posted (edited)

Hi :-D I was clipped, but many on here have been coiled like your Mum, i know a few have been re coiled. I am sure someone here will be able to advise you. Try not to worry...easy to say i know. Did you ask Consultants why they have said will not go back in again ?? Maybe worth a call, to give you and your Mum peace of mind.

Take care

Love Tina xx

Edited by Tina
Posted

Hiya,

I was coiled and on my last check up they told me it had grown a bit, the coils compact I think, anyway they don't recoil until it reaches a certain size, so I will have MRA scans yearly for the next 5 years. Maybe this is the reason they are not going in yet :)

Maybe do what Tina said and ask the docs?

Vivien x

Posted

Thanks for replies folks. I can't ask the consultant as there is no way to contact him until her next appointment in a years time. It wasn't me who was with her the last time or I would have asked then. They didn't say it had grown Vivien so I don't know if that is the same thing as it filling up with blood?

He also asked her if she was still smoking which she is, so I wondered if that could be partly why too, as I guess if I was a surgeon who had saved someones life and they carried on smoking, I would feel really peeved too!! I nearly fell over with shock the day we left the hospital and she lit a cigarette, the whole family and the surgeon have tried to explain to her what she is doing but...............I give up. I just don't understand how she could do this and jeopardise her second chance at life.

Anyway, appreciate your replies folks. I am going to google 'compaction' and see what I can find out. Wishing you all a good day x

Posted

Hi Caz I would have thought if you telephoned the hospital where your mum was coiled and tried to speak to a nurse practitioner or the consultant himself you would have been able to get some answers, I would try his nurse practitioner as she may be able to relay your questions to him and get back to you with some answers which may put both your minds at rest,my wife was in Addenbrooks in Cambridge and the nurse practitioner has always answered my question or got back to me with the answers Got to be worth a try Good luck Rod

Posted

Caz, very worrying for you best thing would be for you to telephone the hospital and ask for the consultant's secretary. Ask her to put you through to him or to relay any questions you have to him and send you a written reply, if he is the old type of consultant who prefers not to talk to patients directly!They (at the hospital) are duty bound to answer any legitimate questions. Do mention that you are a daughter:)

Hope you succeed!

Posted

Thank you all for your helpful replies. I called my mum a little while ago (an hour or so) and she has finally told me that the reason they are not going back in is because the surgeon told her it would most likely cause a stroke. I think she maybe didn't want to discuss it (not sure if it was too upsetting for her, or she didn't want to upset me) but because i was saying I was going to call the hospital, she told me.

Her next app is not for a year and a half and she seems to think she has been left with this time bomb. I guess the surgeon must feel it would cause more damage to go in, than to leave it alone, so I suppose we have to trust his judgement.

Seems like a great little group you have here, web groups really come into their own when it comes to valuable support don't they. Thanks again folks :-D

Posted

Hi again Caz, Glad that you are sorted to a great extent,(sort of!) the risk of stroke is always there with anyone who has any 'interference' in the brain is at risk of a stroke. We all were and in fact most of us have had 'a stroke' but not in the sense that most of us understand strokes to be, but the damage caused by SAH is stroke like.

I am actually having mine recoiled as my coils are falling out of the artery:shock: and The choice was left up to me,as there is a risk of stroke but the risk is a very small one ( but not as small if the person is still smoking! (I stopped after my SAH despite the fact that I had smoked for fifty years!

I am just a year younger than your Mum but chose to take the risk, an important decision so it should certainly be one that one is free to make:-D

Sorry very tired tonight if this is too jumbled to understand do ask! I have not I don't think been as clear as I can:oops:

Posted

Hi Perry, Thanks for your reply. I hope your recoiling goes well. It seems you were given a choice as to whether to proceed, my mum was just basically told that they are not going to operate again. Although yours does sound more serious.

This 'stroke' business really confuses me as her consultant calls it a stroke. However, if you read about what an SH is, it clearly tells you that there is a 'risk of a stroke' after having one. I don't believe my mum has had a stroke, to me she has had a 'bleed' that didn't progress into a stroke. How do you all feel about this?

Posted

Hi Caz,

What most people know as a stroke is an ischaemic stroke where an artery in the brain becomes blocked. A subarachnoid haemorrhage is also a type of stroke: a haemorrhagic stroke. The terminology is confusing and it took a while to find this out after my SAH as my wife was told I'd had 2 strokes. It was much later that I found out that the strokes referred to were the bleeds.

The stroke association explains if far better than I can:

http://www.stroke.org.uk/information/what_is_a_stroke/types_of_stroke.html

Hope this helps to explain things.

Regards

Posted

Hi Caz

The fact that your Mum dosnt have another appt for a year & a half they cant be all that worried about her. if you know what I mean......:roll:

take care

Posted

Thanks for the link Keith. This site says that there are 2 types and I have no idea which one my mum had as I had only seemed to find the subarachnoid haemorrhage when I googled it.

So now it seems she may have had either an intracerebral haemorrhage, or a subarachnoid haemorrhage. I only have the ward number of the hospital she was in and I don't think I should ring there as I remember how busy they always were while I was visiting. I guess I will need to ask my mum if she can ask her GP. Maybe they can clarify which one she had. I remember them saying it was behind her eye, thats all I could take in at the time.

Louise, I don't think her not going back for over a year is reassuring as she has been told they will not go back in as it will cause a stroke. I think they just feel there is no point in her going back before this as they are not going to operate again anyway....if you see what I mean.

Posted

after I got out the hospital I went each year for either an angio/MRI or to see the consultant so two visits a year for 5years thats what I meant -sorry just know that when the hospital are concerned they have you going more for scans and such.....

take care

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