I collapsed in November from an aneurysm, in the shower of all places. I woke up paralyzed on the left side, but I knew immediately what had happened to me. My father died in 1997 of a ruptured berry aneurysm. I crawled to the phone, which was at the other end of my house, called an ambulance and told them I thought I had had a stroke. It took 4 horrible days for the hospital to find the aneurysm. When they found it I got worse news, there is not a single Doctor in my area that will operate on aneurysms. Therefore I was flown to UAB in Birmingham. I have to say the staff and facility at UAB are outstanding.
I was checked out and put in ICU to await surgery. The night before my scheduled clipping I had a second bleed. I developed hydrocephalus and had a grand mal seizure as well as at least one smaller seizure. I was at that point taken into surgery for an emergency coiling. Apparently because of the second bleed it made more sense to do the coiling than the clipping. I had some further problems with the hydrocephalus and a week later had another surgery to install a permanant shunt. My aneurysm was a right PICA and was 8mm. After the shunt was put in I spent 4 more days in the hospital and then was sent home. My recovery has gone pretty well. I was not permanently paralyzed from the first episode, I had recovered that before I went to UAB. I had some slight memory problems, but nothing too bad.
I went back up this week for my follow up angiogram. The angio by the way is awful. Bad news: My aneurysm has grown and needs to have more coils added. My Doctor was extremely busy and didn't manage to talk to me more than to say I have to come back in about a month to recoil. My question is has anyone else experienced this and does this mean I have to go through the whole recovery process again. I know it won't be as bad since I can't really develop hydrocephalus again as I have the shunt in place, but is the pain and general recovery the same for a recoil as it was for the original.
I will be honest. I am terrified at this point and then to have to start over I don't know if I can do it. I was just starting to think maybe I could go back to work part-time. My headaches have be constant and tremendous, but still preferable to death. I don't know anyone who has had to deal with anything like this and my husband and I are worried about the future. I have read a lot of posts on this and a couple of other sites and I know that I am lucky to be alive. I had thought that it was over, but now it seems to be just the beginning. Any help or thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you so much and good luck to you all.

hello JeninFl

I cant offer any insight into your condition but I did just want to welcome you.

You may also want to post this on our hydrocephalus board as it gets a bit more responses than here
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=14

Hi, I had a subarachnoid hemmorage on 2-24-2008 and the treatment was to insert 13 coils in the anuerysm to plug it up. I didn't have the shunt, I had to have a hole drilled in my head and a drain tube for the better part of 2 weeks in ICU. I just went in for my cerebral angiogram and to tell you the truth it was very easy. The worst thing about it was the IV and taking the tape off my groin the next day. I'm looking at have more coils put in on 9/16 because mine have compacted allowing some blood to flow into the aneurysm. I have basically a full recovery, no affect, no headaches no paralysis and I was back to work after taking 10 weeks off. I guess I'm just trying to tell you to hang in there. You're already extremely lucky becuase you're still alive like me and after I read the stats on the internet we're both in the minority.

I was born with hydrocaplous and now 30 some years later i have had 3 aneurysms so . I am not sure if they are realted

To clip or not to clip . . . You might want to discuss having your aneurysm clipped. I could have had one of my aneurysms coiled, but the configuration was such that (1) I probably would have had to undergone another brain operation in the future to fix the coil job if (2) coiling would have worked at all.

I didn't want to go back for repeated surgeries, so I talked with my neurosurgeon and opted for a once-and-for-all clipping instead of coiling. Coiling may be easier in many ways, but it's not always the best way to go.

Judy

I had a rupture seven years ago and I'm on my third recoiling. The preceeding coilings were not as bad as recovering from the rupture. I've had the coiling procedure done and was off work for a week each time. The doctors say it's rare that they have to recoil as many times as I have been. I also have a stent. I have two other aneursyms.

I had a coiling in October from a ruptured annie. I had never had such pain in my life! It was in the circle of willis area, just behind my right eye. I was lucky not suffer any paralysis. I have been doing a slow recovery and go for my angiogram in April. I did not know that a coiled annie could grow? I know I was told that it could rupture again or I could have a second bleed. I guess I just wanted to wish you all the best. I understand how fearful you are, have faith that all will be ok. Remember unnecessary stress can harm you...you have to find a way to remain calm and worry free.

Good Luck to You.

Dear Jen: I had a coiling done last July my annie was 12mm, I have two others, the second biggest one was clipped in January. Now I am recouping again, and with 23 staples that were removed one week after surgery. The coiling for me posed no pain in itself, I had an a-fib, which caused a longer recoup. But after having the clipping and now a crew cut on one side of my head, I prefer the coiling, I had no pain after, and no 7 inch long scar from the forehead to the ear with the coiling. I have heard of others that had to have more coils put in, you are not alone. We hate to be helpless, we hate no being able to do anything for so long. Jusy remember that we are alive, and whole for the most part. God will neved put more on us then we can handle. If the largest one needs more coils I would not hesitate, that proceedure was a breeze with no after pain. WE ARE STILL HERE!!! Good luck Nancy ,

It has been quite a while since I posted an update here. First of all I want to thank all of you who have responded and wish well to all of those who are seeking answers here. My story began with the bleeds and became much more complicated. As I said in my first post they were considering a re-coiling of the aneurysm.
My doctor and I opted instead for a clipping. Had I only known I would have definitely gone with the coiling. 7 hours into the surgery they gave up, the aneurysm was wrapped around my brain stem. The doctor told my husband post op that he didn't know if I would wake up, or what condition I would be in if I did. Clearly I woke up! My husband had snuck into recovery and I woke up to him standing over me. I tried to talk to him, but he says I didn't make any sense, I thought I did.
Anyway, I woke up without much in the way of deficits, and the usual pain. The worst was the ringing in my ears, I couldn't hear for weeks, and the change in my voice. They never did explain that to me. We noticed within a week or so that the swelling in the back of my head wasn't going away, and I couldn't stop throwing up. The next thing I knew we were headed back to the hospital, viral meningitis and a pseudomeningocele, in other words I had a spinal fluid leak due to the craniotomy. They did a small surgery to try to repair the leak and sent me home.
Two weeks later I was back and worse, now I also had pneumonia. They did another surgery to attempt to fix the leak and replaced my shunt due to an infection. Now I had holes everywhere, the back of my head, the top of my head, my stomach (for the shunt), and a 10 inch incision in my leg where they removed the fascia from my thigh muscle to repair the pseudomeningocele. Luckily this surgery was successful in repairing the leak, but I developed a fungal infection in my brain and a staff infection and had to have a picc line for 4 weeks when I went home.
My recovery was very slow. The first time I walked around the block (about half a mile) I was so proud. I went to work in a family member's clothing store in February of 2008. Working has shown me how little I have really gotten better. I am tired all the time, I can't think straight, I am scared to death that I will have another seizure or another bleed. I am terrified of dying and leaving my family. I don't go a day without a headache. For the most part I can do things, but after I exert any effort I have to rest, it feels like a bomb going off in my head. This is also true when I sneeze, cough, or bend over to do anything.
I dropped down to part time about 3 months ago, it helped, but I am thinking not enough. My husband suggested the other day that we should think about trying to apply for disability. We are going to talk to the doctors to see what their opinion is. I just can't keep this up. I hate the thought of being a drag on society, but I can't force myself to do things that cause me this much pain.
Anyway, I am sorry for again going on and on I just needed to vent a bit. If anyone has any insights or advice please feel free to comment. Again, thank you all for your concern and your advice. I am hoping to get into better spirits soon.

I have to make breif because of problems with computers. I had SAH due to rupture of 16mm basilar tip annie, 1 mo in ICU and many complications. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one with so many problems after over 2 years of recovery and they keep mounting up. I understand the constant pain, seizures, recuring stroke like symptoms and so much more. It was hard to accept, and deal with for me and family. Had to accept that even though I won't be the same as before, I am still me!!! Had to stop beating myself up! It only hurts matters. That even if I can't do what I used to, I am not a drag on society, or any less a person. I realized I can't move forward if I stayed stuck in what was. I had to let go of the unwarrented guilt I felt when I looked at the pain in my loved ones eyes and feeling like a burden to them. I understand wanting to get back to normal. I pushed myself to hard and ended up back in hospital a few months after surgery with stroke symptoms, that drs still cant fiqure out what happened, and made things worse. Will try post again later.