Originally Posted by DONNA SCHIOPPA

Hi everyone. My name is Donna and I had the shock of my life in May 2007. My partner was becoming concerned for me as I was having a lot of headaches and missing a lot of work. She works as a medical biller with radiology so she went to my Dr. and asked if we could have a slip for an MRI/MRA of the brain due to my headaches. I also have fibromylagia so I really blamed the headaches on that. I went kicking and screaming for the MRI as I thought it was a waste of time and was sure that nothing was going to show up. Boy was I wrong. I had a CT done years ago which showed nothing. This time it showed two aneurysms; however, I also had an aneurysmal subarachroid hemmorrhage. I was in shock. I was scheduled the next day for a cerebral angiogram which confirmed the diagnosis. Since our hospital did not do coiling at the time, I was referred to Jefferson Neuroscience Hospital in Pa. They requested all my records and within a day called me and told me to get right over they had a bed waiting. Everything happended so quick and I was glad that it was going to be coil. Well, when I got to the hospital, we set and spoke with the surgery team and because I had already hemmorrhaged, they could not coil it and would have to clip instead. Now I was a real basket case. There were no guarantees. The operation was ten hours long and my partner told me that it was the worse day of her life. The were not sure not only if I would make it out of surgery, but what type of condition I would be in because of the bleed. Well to everyone's surprise, I recognized my partner right away and my two sons. The doctor said that is a great sign that I would be ok. I was in the hospital for a total of four days then I was sent home. that is when I faced all of my deamons. I was scared of the dark, dizzy, depressed, angry, and every other emotion you could think of.

It has been 8 months now since my surgery and I still have some deficits such as short term memory, word finding problems, concentration problems, etc. which they say is all normal. However, my long term disability feels that I am fine and can return to work. Now I have to face fighting disability. My doctors all feel that a year would not be an unreasonable time to try and regain what I have lost. Don't get me wrong, I want to go back to work and my old life. It is just hard.

I am glad though I ended up having the clipping as that is permanent. I know people who have had the coiling done and have to be closely watched. I feel for everyone including their families that have to go through this horrible surgery. But if my partner had not demanded that I have that MRI/MRA that day, I know I would not have been here today. She is and always will be my guardian angel. Donna