I have been off work since October 2012,I was a Tug Boat Captain for 25 years, my job started getting harder and harder and then I had a panic attack, I saw a cardiologist first and then a couple ENT specialists and they told me i had inner ear nerve damage, then my older sister passed suddenly from an aneurysm at the age of 51, I am turning 50 next month, so I decided to get a ct scam and then an angiogram and that’s when they found my AVM, I go for surgery in 18 days …it’s been over 5 years of suffering for me and I am hoping life gets better after surgery.
Is there is any info you can give me for pre and post surgery? Thanks
Welcome! What sort of surgery are you having? These are three main types of intervention for an AVM… stereotactic radiation (which may not quite count as “surgery”); embolisation, which is the injection of glue or other particles to create a blockage; or a craniotomy, which is what most people would recognise as “surgery”.
For myself, I had an embolisation, so if it is similar, I can tell you anything you want about that (and I’d say we worry about it much more than it warrants). If you’re having a craniotomy, I’ll need to let you talk to others but these are plenty of people here who have gone through a craniotomy, some of them more than once, I think, and done so successfully.
I hope your surgery does something to help your condition. I am sure it will remove the bleed risk, because that is what any of these surgeries is focussed on, but I hope it also leads on to a reduction of your symptoms, too.
They are going to open the back of my skull on the left side and remove the AMV which is in between Occipital and Cerebellum lobes, my neurosurgeon says it,s easy to get at and is about 2 cm in size.
Welcome Noah, great that it sounds like your AVM is in a favourable spot, that’s good news. Its great on the timing side of things too, happening really fast. Lots of experience here, and a great community, once again Welcome. John.
welcome to the site!
it sounds like you’re AVM is in a good location and accessible which will make your craniotomy a bit easier I’m just glad you caught it before it ruptured!
My advice for pre-surgery is Trust your doctors and don’t over worry about things… it’s easier said than done but you can drive yourself crazy worrying about things out of your control.
After surgery listen to your brain if you’re tired sleep; the brain needs a lot of rest after going through something like a craniotomy. I had two craniotomies one after the rupture and one to remove the AVM, and I always felt guilty laying around the house and sleeping but your brain needs to heal and it needs lots of rest to do that.