A burst brain aneurysm results in a remarkable recovery
José Cisneros, 28, had nearly completed his 10-hour shift working on an excavation project near Muskegon. It was almost 5 p.m. when he finished lifting and placing heavy castings along a roadway and was checking their alignment.
“That’s when I began to feel weird,” Cisneros said.
His first symptom was a strange sensation with his hearing: The sounds from the construction equipment seemed to fade in and out. Then he experienced pain in the back of his neck.
“I spun around and asked my coworkers if they heard what I heard. They said no and asked if I was okay.”
When Cisneros tried to walk toward his friends, he fell down and lost consciousness.
Several minutes later, when he regained consciousness, Cisneros was on the ground throwing up and remembers hearing sirens from an approaching ambulance. Once at Mercy Health Muskegon’s ED, the team reacted immediately. Following his care in the ED, Cisneros doesn’t recall anything from Wednesday evening until the following Monday.
When he awakened on Monday, Cisneros discovered he had undergone brain surgery (more specifically, a neurointerventional procedure) and was a patient at the Mercy Health Hauenstein Neuroscience Center in Grand Rapids.
“They told me that they put coils in my brain because a vein had exploded.” That was the bad news. However, “one good thing that happened because of this is,” said Cisneros, “is that my family came to see me, including my parents, who traveled from Mexico.”
Before his procedure a CT scan revealed that Cisneros had experienced a ruptured brain aneurysm (a bulging in a blood vessel in the brain that has leaked), whose consequences are often severe.
Almost 50 percent of people with a ruptured aneurysm pass away before reaching the hospital. Frequently patients have no symptoms prior to the event, but if they do, they often describe the pain during rupture as the worst headache of their life — referred to as a thunderclap headache.
“By reaching appropriate medical care quickly, José was fortunate,” said Medical Director of Neurointerventional Services Baljit Deol, MD. “We were able to help him by going into his brain and place platinum coils to fill that aneurysm, which protects his brain from further blood leakage due to the weakened blood vessel wall.”
Cisneros’ recovery has been remarkable. Many stroke patients are transferred to acute rehab or subacute care following hospitalization. Cisneros didn’t need physical therapy and is not on any medications. The only lasting effect he experiences is occasional headaches.
Recently, Cisneros underwent a follow-up procedure with Deol to check the status of his coils and aneurysm. Sometimes blood clots form in the coils following treatment, and those clots are reabsorbed into the body leaving empty space in the aneurysm.
Deol performed a follow-up angiogram to check for blood clots and any extra space they might have left behind, which would leave Cisneros vulnerable to another event. If there is extra space, the neurointerventionalist then re-treats the patients using more coils.
After a follow-up procedure several months following Cisneros’ stroke, Deol shared this update: “I am happy to confirm that José’s aneurysm continues to be protected and his prognosis will be excellent.”
Cisneros is grateful for his care at Mercy Health and happy to be back at work. “Mercy Health took good care of me.”
Learn about Mercy Health’s stroke program