30 Years Ago - The Surgery

30 years ago today I had my aneurysm surgery. The really big one got a titanium clip and the others have continued to be closely monitored and scanned all these years. I spent the rest of that summer on the couch with our baby son while our 4 year old daughter stared at my wounded head. A year later I was a full time grad student embarking on a completely new career path. Life goes on and we make the best of it. A big thank you to family and friends who helped me through this over the years and especially to Becky for her strength. And to my poor mother who lost her husband in 1970 to a ruptured brain aneurysm and then had to experience four of her children undergo aneurysm surgeries. She was the foundation of our family and we miss her.

Remembering that day… the operation went well except for a reaction to the anesthesia triggered by Malignant Hyperthermia that the doctors were prepared for but that caused a rapid increase in body temperature. I woke up shivering in the ICU packed in ice. Not fun. Becky was very relieved when I recognized her right away and was able to answer questions from the doctors. It was nice to get out of the hospital by the holiday weekend.

The initial Yale study that we are participated in was completed around ten years or so ago and a medical journal article was published. We were referred to as "the family from Pennsylvania". A genetic marker for aneurysms was identified. I got copies of the article somewhere and will dig them up.