butterfly, flowers, and the appointment

I took the kitchen scraps out to the compost pile last Sunday and there were about a dozen fritillaries feeding on the watermelon rinds dumped the day before. They all flew up and this little one landed on my finger. I didn’t have my camera/phone on me so I walked back to the house and back outside all the while this one stayed on my finger. It seemed reluctant to leave but flew away when I blew on it after I took the picture.

And my tomatoes are blooming. What’s up with that? They’re not supposed to bloom when it gets this hot. Guess I’ll wait and see if they set fruit.

Yesterday was the appointment with the neurosurgeon and while I was trying to stay calm on the drive in and while waiting and then again in the room, my blood pressure was high when she took it, was it always this high she asked, depends on my anxiety level. Don’t be anxious she said, changed cuffs and took it again, still high but lower. Then the NP came in and took my history and family history, asked about any sudden deaths in my family. Yes, my father died of a massive stroke after surviving one and my sister just this last November, ischemic stroke with brain bleed, looking for a genetic history of aneurysm I guess. She questioned the ischemic part of my sister’s diagnosis, that ischemic stroke didn’t cause brain bleeds and also my father’s saying that stroke didn’t cause sudden death. So there’s a big question mark there as neither were autopsied. The neurologist in the ER when my sister died said it was an ischemic stroke and while it wasn’t usual, it could be accompanied by brain bleed if the artery became weak and friable from the blockage. So who knows. I did look it up when I got home and found several reliable sources that said bleeding in the brain after an ischemic stroke could happen. Then she tested me finger to nose, following her fingers with my eyes not my head, how many fingers in my peripheral vision, that sort of thing. She answered most the questions I had written down to my satisfaction, a couple she deferred to asking the doctor.

The doctor came in and I liked him immediately, friendly and casual. He showed me a picture of the basilar artery in my brain and the bulge that was previously diagnosed as a fusiform aneurysm, I think from the MRI, which was gray and fuzzy. He pointed out the shape which seemed to have a point and that there was a very faint line coming off of it that could be a branching off to the right from the artery like the one on the other side branching off to the left which was still blurry but more visible. Then he showed me a picture of (not my brain) the arteries as seen from a cerebral angiogram which was black, sharp, and clear. He told me there was a 25% chance it was not an aneurysm and if it is, not necessarily the difficult to repair fusiform type, could be the bubble type, hard to determine from that image. I asked him if it was fusiform (meaning an oval shaped bulge in the artery, not a bubble off to one side) could it be repaired. He said yes and gave me two methods, one of which was cutting a piece out of my skull and performing brain surgery (I’ve forgotten what the other method was, maybe a stent) but it would have to be much bigger and dangerous before he would consider that. If it turns out it is the fusiform kind then controlling my blood pressure and regular imaging would be the treatment since it is high blood pressure that causes aneurysms to enlarge and blow. I suppose if it’s the bubble type that could still be the treatment plan, that or repair. I’ll know what I’m facing after the angiogram.

So the cerebral angiogram has been scheduled for July 9th. I’ll have to go in several days before to get bloodwork done and blood pressure taken, will have to be there for the procedure at 5:30 AM. I’ll be awake he said, given some sedative that will cause me to sleep if I relax into it, it’s a quick procedure, half hour max, shouldn’t feel a thing, maybe a little prick when they go into the artery in my groin. And it’s possible the electrophysiologist will do the Watchman procedure after the angiogram in which case I’ll be staying overnight in the hospital.

My double purple althea (rose of sharon).