Here we go – “again”.

09 May Here we go – “again”.

I do wish I wasn’t writing an entry to this blog again, but the reality is that we need to let everyone (who are interested) know that Judy  learned (back in September) that she has another aneurism in her head/brain. This was shocking information as we had been back to Montreal, Notre Dame Hospital regularly since her previous surgery in March of 2013 and no indication of any issues at all.

We had begun the process of having all records and follow up care transferred from Montreal to The Ottawa Hospital, thinking that we should be in our own province for many reasons. The September 2016 visit was Judy’s 1st visit in Ottawa for the purpose follow up; a good visit and “everything looks good, the second aneurism has remained the same”. Judy’s wtf thought process kicked in. “What second aneurism? The doctor (Dr. Kassab) was very surprised that his colleagues in Notre Dame had not informed Judy of the 2nd aneurism and also that they had recommended (in her charts) that it be followed up in 4 years time! He thought that this was not right and suggested he would order another MRI @ The Ottawa Hospital on a more powerful 3 Tesla (3T) MRI Scan  so he could see for himself what was going on.

We waited until April 12th and had the MRI done @ 2:30 in the morning – Wait Times for MRI is material for another blog post, but another time.   The follow up for that was April 25th, and initially the doctor was leaning towards ‘a wait and see’ approach, given the aneurism was small.    Judy and I were not happy with the ‘wait ‘n see’ approach as there was lots of anxiety around living in the shroud of another potential situation like that of March 13, 2013.   The doctor was made aware of our concerns and reasons why:

1. Judy’s personal history with aneurism
2. Judy’s family history – mother with a brain bleed and stroke, father with an aorta aneurism and grandfather with a brain aneurism
3. The size was of concern – this small aneurism that they wanted to watch was actually bigger than the one that burst in 2013

The doctor agreed to take Judy’s situation back to a panel of experts in this field and have them review it.   We got a call 1 week later asking us to come in for an appointment on May 8th.

Today (May 8th, 2017) we were presented with the options of surgery (clipping) going in through the skull or endovascular surgery (the option that was used in Notre Dame in 2013).   The doctor admitting that he made a error in initially recommending wait and see.

An endovascular surgery  will be scheduled for sometime in the near future (within 3 months) at which time they will do the same process of vascular coiling or a combination of vascular coiling with a stent as an additional intervention precaution.

We are happy that we have the option of some intervention (knowing what we ‘all’ went through before) and are very confident in the hands of the doctors at The Ottawa Hospital.    The last time we were experiencing the emotion of urgency, this time around it different but the same, the feeling is anxiousness.

We’ll keep everyone updated through this Blog as we know more and especially when the surgery is booked and happens.