After meeting with my neurologist, talking over with my family and friends and meeting with a woman who had used Dr. Spetzler for brain surgery, I decided to book my appointment for a consultation in Arizona. The receptionist told me that typically out of towners book everything for one trip-- consultation, angiogram, and surgery. Okay, here we go! I booked everything for one trip. We were trying to schedule it where it would fit into the surgeon schedule, the endovascular surgeons schedule for the angiogram, my schedule, and my parents schedule. It was just as difficult to find a date as it seems it would have been.
Finally, yesterday we decided that April 21st I will fly out to Arizona with my parents and then first thing in the morning on April 22nd I will have my pre-surgery physical, and later in the afternoon I will have a consultation with the surgeons. First thing the next morning, April 23rd I will have my pre-surgical angiogram-- taking current pictures of the AVM so they know what they are going to cut out when its time for surgery. April 24th, I will have a day off-- go site seeing, relax, maybe a spa day? Then April 25th is the big one. I go in in the morning for surgery. It will be around 8 hours long and I will stay in the hospital for 3-4 days. I will fly back home Monday April 29th, and 10 days after surgery get my staples removed at a hospital in the city. I will be out of commission for 4-6 weeks.
I am a bit nervous about the surgery because it is a huge surgery, but I am more nervous about not having the surgery and leaving a ticking time bomb in my brain.
Dr. Spetzler is a great surgeon, he is very experienced and I had the privilege to speak with a few of his patients. I feel confident that he can do the job.
