A Life Saved through Aneurysm Surgery
Patient Experiences: Yolanda Aleman
Yolanda Aleman prepared to die. Physicians in Austin and Dallas told her she had one year to live because of an inoperable aneurysm located on the left side of her brain.
That was more than nine years ago.
“I decided to prepare for my burial and then live life to the fullest,” Yolanda recalls. Her saga began in about the year 2000 when she fainted while getting out of bed to answer the door. Yolanda was initially diagnosed with an inner ear condition, but was referred to a neurologist when she developed tingling in her right hand and right foot and numbness in her upper lip and tip of her nose.
Testing revealed the unthinkable. Yolanda had an aneurysm in her brain, one that was proclaimed inoperable. She was told that she had one year to live.
One year turned to two and three and so on. Six years after Yolanda was told she had a year to live, Yolanda’s life changed. It was a hot August evening in 2006.
“I was taking my granddaughter Brianna for a burger and stopped to get some money,” Yolanda recalls. “While I was at the ATM I heard a rattling and thought it was my truck. I drove for six or seven blocks and then everything went silent. I couldn’t hear the truck or anything else. I had lost my hearing. At that point, I knew that something was wrong with me so I pulled into an apartment complex parking lot. Then I noticed the headache.”Yolanda’s three grown children had prepared Brianna.
“We told her that if something happens, call EMS,” says Yolanda’s daughter Virginia. Brianna acted quickly and dialed 9-1-1. Yolanda requested that EMS transport her to St. David’s Medical Center, where her three grown children met her. She remained fully conscious and alert.“At the ER, I told my children that they knew this day would come,” Yolanda explains, “but I wanted to bless them before I died.”
Then, a spark of good news. A CT scan revealed that the aneurysm had ruptured, but that it was not bleeding as much as one would expect. The ER physician called in neurosurgeon Anant Patel, MD, who was on call and had never treated Yolanda.
Dr. Patel spoke with Yolanda and her family, examined the CT scans, and said that he believed his partner, neurosurgeon Stanley Kim, MD, could successfully operate on the aneurysm.
Yolanda’s daughter Virginia spoke with Dr. Kim. “He told us that the type of aneurysm she had should bleed like a running faucet when it ruptures, but that hers wasn’t bleeding like that,” Virginia explains.
Dr. Kim recommended surgery and spoke words the family thought they would never hear: “I can’t guarantee anything, but I am almost certain your mother will be okay.”
Dr. Kim told Yolanda that if she did not have the surgery she would die in two weeks. Yolanda opted to have Dr. Kim operate.
In an 8-hour procedure, Dr. Kim was able to thread a coil through a vessel into the area containing the aneurysm.
“After the surgery, Dr. Kim said that my mother came through it with no impairments,” Virginia recalls. “We were all elated. We could not thank Dr. Kim enough.”
But the family braced for more news. The numerous brain scans ordered by Dr. Kim revealed two additional aneurysms on the right side of Yolanda’s brain. He repaired them two weeks later via a clip procedure.
“Dr. Kim promised that when I left the hospital, I would be free of aneurysms,” Yolanda says.
Three years after the surgery, and nine years after she was given one year to live, Yolanda calls Dr. Kim her guardian Angel.
“I have a lot of respect for him,” she says. “He explained everything and his bedside manners are beautiful; he even visited me at 3 in the morning! And I am grateful for the wonderful care I received in the ICU.”
Yolanda offers this advice: “Listen to what your doctor is telling you. There are so many modern techniques it is heartwarming.”
And life saving.
