Mini Dramas: All Benign - So Far

As the Aneurysms Turn

FYI's:

1. An aneurysm can be like a balloon which is attached to a blood vessel. Or it can be like a blister. An aneurysm doesn't cause a problem unless it bleeds.
2. 22 mm = approx 1 inch
3. 6 mm is a line of demarcation. Over 6 mm in size, an aneurysm should be treated. When under 6 mm in size, there is more danger from treatment than from the existing aneurysm.

Mom had an arteriogram on Wed. Her Interventional Neuro Radiologist(whew) is Dr. Ike Thacker, of Baylor Hospital, near downtown Dallas. Both her previously coiled aneurysms are holding up well. She has a 2.5 mm aneurysm at the base of one of her coiled aneurysms. This aneurysm needs to be watched. Mom will have another angiogram, or possibly an MRI, in 6 months. I'll update later with the official location of this aneurysm. It is behind her right eye, forward of her right ear, and nudged up against a major blood vessel.

Mom has three small aneurysms attached to an artery in the front of her brain. Two of these are less than 1 mm in size. The third aneurysm is less than 2mm in size. These three aneurysms seem not to overly worry Dr. Thacker. If they grow, he seems pretty confident they can be handled.

The good news is Mom's brain will be watched closely from here on. An aneurysm, which might otherwise have been allowed to grow to dangerous size, will instead be identified and treated.

The other good news, slightly off topic, is that Dr. Thacker said Mom's arteries are amazingly free of plaque. She has potential to be neurologically sharp well into her advanced years.

Return of: The Hair!

Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do, dum-de-de-dum! That's right fans: the hair is back. My digi-camera is broken, sadly. I'll try to put up a picture next week. Mom's hair is a big issue to at least 10% of Nancy Update readership - or maybe even 25% of readership - it's hard to calculate.

Almost Fatal Barbies

After an angiogram day Wed at Baylor Hosp; and after a Thursday which included only half a bagel for food; and after a vigourous 45 minutes of shopping for Barbies for 5 year old granddaughter; Mom chose the checkout line at Big Lots to frame her first ever faint.

Phone contact with after hours, on call doctor = "take her to get checked at the emergency room." I tried to talk him out of this recommendation, but he would not be persuaded.

Thereafter, had to karate chop and WWF drag a mad-as-heck Mom to the ER(aside: I was dis-inherited along the way). Between 6pm and 10pm, Mom was poked, stuck, and submitted to a variety of testing. She was then sent home with a diagnosis of "fainted due to exhaustion." The Barbies truly were almost fatal - to me - because she was so hacked off.

Debutante Party #2

Today, with hair returned to normal, Mom visited Wedgwood Nursing Home. After her visit, she was full of details about everyone she saw. The people at Wedgwood are her family. It's a love thing.