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Kay Denny’s Miracle

This North Carolinian is thankful that her brain aneurysm was diagnosed when minimally invasive procedures were available to treat it.

It was sheer luck that Carolyn “Kay” Denny, a 50-year-old accounts payable employee who resides in Concord, N. C., discovered she was walking around with a potentially deadly condition. But it was the development of a minimally invasive procedure utilizing a new device that would soon offer her a new lease on life.

A Scary Surprise
In fall 2002, Denny was having unusual spasms in her left eye, and started squinting more, even in low light. “I remember one day in November when I was just sitting in my car and crying because I could barely see,” Denny says. “My eyesight was gray, and my eyes were just clenching shut.”

After visiting a number of doctors—an ophthalmologist, her family doctor and an ear, nose, and throat specialist—she was referred to a neurologist. Based on some Internet research, Denny suspected she had a condition called blepharospasm, a neurological muscle spasm around the eye.

Denny’s neurologist concurred with her opinion—and an MRI revealed more bad news. She also had a large, 10-millimeter aneurysm, unrelated to the blepharospasm. If it burst, it could be fatal, so it would have to be treated as soon as possible. While Denny was relieved that the aneurysm was discovered, she says the prospect of having surgery was a scary one. “I was terrified to have brain surgery,” Denny recalls. “When I have had surgery, odd things have happened—whether it was a tonsillectomy or a hysterectomy. I go in with a positive attitude, but freaky things just happen.”

Who Wants Their Head Opened Up?
After talking to her neurologist, Denny learned that she was a candidate for minimally invasive treatment—a neurovascular procedure using detachable platinum coils. Unlike traditional brain surgery, which requires cutting through the skull, in the coiling procedure the doctor inserts a tiny catheter into an artery and threads it up through the brain to the aneurysm. The catheter deploys platinum coils that fill the aneurysm and form a tight ball, stabilizing it and preventing its rupture. Recovery from the coiling procedure usually takes a week or so, while healing time for invasive surgery can take six to eight weeks. “I was thrilled,” Denny says. “Who wants their head opened up?”

Meanwhile, friends and family rallied around her to provide support—including her grown daughter, 17-year-old son and three-year-old granddaughter. “They were all just terrified,” Denny recalls. “Everybody thought I was a walking time bomb. Every day when I left for work, my husband, Dale, asked me to call him when I got there. He was afraid I was going to have a stroke.”

The neurosurgeon who diagnosed Denny wasn’t able to perform the coiling procedure, so she began searching for a doctor who could. She contacted Duke University—which has one of the top neurovascular centers in the country—and was directed to the office of Michael Alexander, M.D.

Dr. Alexander, a progressive physician and strong proponent of the latest technologies, treats most of his aneurysm cases using coiling. “Small-neck aneurysms are usually the best candidates for coiling,” he says. “But because of the advances in technology—like the new intracranial stents and bioactive detachable coils—even some wide-neck aneurysms, like Denny’s, are now treatable. If we had seen her just a year earlier, we probably would have recommended traditional surgery.”

Dr. Alexander discussed the procedure with Denny—including its risks, such as stroke or paralysis in her left eye—and answered all of her questions. “Denny was a very well-informed patient,” he says. “She had done Internet research and knew all the issues involved.”

Denny’s feelings were mutual. “Dr. Alexander is wonderful,” she says. “He seemed so competent, and I really trusted him. He scheduled me for surgery the very next week.”

On March 25, 2003, Denny and her husband had dinner at a Japanese restaurant to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. Two days later, Denny arrived at Duke for surgery. Her family, including her sisters, as well as her husband’s brother and wife, was at her side. And friends at Hickory Grove Baptist Church (in Charlotte) offered their prayers for her.

The two-hour procedure went well, without complications. Once Denny awakened from the general anesthesia, Dr. Alexander immediately performed a neurologic exam. He made sure she could understand him and could move her arms and legs. Everything checked out well, so he moved Denny to the ICU to recover.

“I was in intensive care overnight; but the next morning, I ate my breakfast and left,” Denny says. “It was just amazing. I didn’t even wear a Band-Aid®.”

The Short Road to Recovery
Denny wasted no time getting back into the swing of things. That Sunday, two days after she had checked out of intensive care, she attended her church. “I was still feeling a bit weak, but I needed to be there,” Denny says. “My husband pulled the car around so I wouldn’t have to walk very far.”

The service was broadcast on giant screens throughout the church. When Pastor Joe Brown discovered that Denny had already returned to church, he grabbed the microphone and said, “Kay Denny, I know you’re here. Stand up!”

“So I stood up,” Denny laughs, “and I was displayed on the video screens. (Our Pastor’s) sermons are broadcast on television a month later, so it was really fun to be part of that.”

Within a week of her surgery, she returned to work. “Denny’s six-month follow-up angiogram and her MRI a year later both show that the aneurysm is stable,” Dr. Alexander says.

Denny receives ongoing treatment for her blepharospasm, but otherwise has resumed her regular activities. These days, she’s savoring simple pleasures—such as her son’s recent high school graduation—and says she doesn’t even think about the aneurysm anymore. “I feel so fortunate,” she says. “This procedure is a miracle.”