Road to Recovery: A Successful Surgery

Of all the pictures and emails and posts I’ve made over the past few days, this may be the most enlightening as it includes before and after pictures of Loren’s aneurysm. You can clearly see the amazing results of the stent and coil embolization done by one of the best surgeons in the world – Dr. Aman Patel.

Loren has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known, so it’s only fitting that her aneurism was heart-shaped. You can see in the following pictures where it is supported underneath by a stent and 6 coils made of platinum – so I guess you can say Loren “blinged’ out her brain!

In all seriousness, there is no telling how many people have these things, never discover them, and ultimately die from them without ever even knowing they had an issue in the first place. Loren wants to bring awareness to this as we were extremely fortunate that this aneurism was discovered just a few weeks back as doctors were looking into symptoms she was experiencing.

Symptoms such as vertigo and other perceptual symptoms could have been overlooked as something else, but over the course of ten years Loren remained focused, and was determined to get to the root cause of her symptoms. For years she visited neurologists and cardiologists, had MRIs and a host of tests – but they never caught it until just a few weeks ago. It just goes to show the importance of listening to what your body is telling you!

The positive outcome we’ve experienced is a direct result of Loren’s persistence and determination, but we were not alone in this journey. We owe a great deal to our family and friends, and throughout this odyssey we have experienced the incredible healing power of friendship.

Throughout the course of our lives, Loren and I have been fortunate enough to befriend many celebrities and iconic personalities, and from our experiences, you would be hard-pressed to find any two people who are more down to earth and genuine than Carmelo and La La Anthony.

Melo and La have stood by our side throughout this entire journey, and have been a rock of support during this experience. I can’t remember a time when someone took as much interest in a problem we had as Carmelo and La La Anthony have. Their friendship means the world to us.

They not only expressed their deep concern but they went the extra mile and helped us find the best medical team. They researched it and ultimately lead us to an incredible team at Mt. Sinai with superstar surgeon, Dr. Aman Petal. Dr. Patel is the best in the country at coiling-stent embolizations – and we owe Carmelo and La La a tremendous debt of gratitude for helping us connect with him.

Aside from being one of the best surgeons in the world, Dr. Patel is also a fabulous human being and person who really cares. He made all the difference and really took the time to make sure we understood everything – and really helped put us all at ease. He is one of those people that is passionate about being the best at what they do – and we are truly blessed to call this wonderful man our friend and doctor.

Have a look at some great photos of Dr. Patel’s incredible handiwork. Dr. Patel had this to say about them: “The pictures are nice examples of how coil embolization should look before and after. In my experience when it looks like this it is unlikely that the aneurysm would ever come back. However, we will monitor to be 100% sure.”

1. Before Treatment 1 (notice the heart shaped aneurysm of 8.cm) Note that)t It Is engorged with blood outside the artery.

2. Before treatment 2  (Another view of Aneurysm and branch of artery)

3. After treatment  3 (Notice the Aneurism is sealed off  with no blood flow)

4. After treatment 4  (Notice the good and continuous flow of blood in arteries adjacent and past the sealed off aneurysm where stent and 6 coils pack the aneurism closing it off)

We were very lucky to have discovered Loren’s aneurism, and we realize that many people are not so fortunate. If you know anyone who has died of or been affected by a brain aneurysm, feel free to leave a comment and tell us your story. You will be in our thoughts and prayers!