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One Day at a Time
This Michigan grandmother knows from experience
that less is more.
Wilma Jo Garner, 68, is back to Friday nights out at
Red Lobster with her boyfriend of 26 years, showing
scarcely a sign that she's recently undergone a groundbreaking
brain procedure.
"I'm thankful that I wake up every morning,"
says Garner, who says she tires easily but is otherwise
feeling fine and plans to return to her job at JCPenney's.
She's got nothing but praise for Peter Rasmussen, M.D.,
and his team at the Cleveland Clinic-and their minimally
invasive treatment of her cerebral aneurysm with the
Neuroform™ Stent. "I appreciate everything
they did for me," she says. "They were right
on top of everything."
Such enthusiasm is a far cry from the way Garner felt
a while back when she first began having dizzy spells,
which sometimes came on without warning while she was
at work. Then the migraines she'd long suffered got
worse - and so did her vision. "I got to the point
… that I had three or four migraines a day where
I would lose vision," says Garner. "I could
see maybe half of somebody's face, vertically or horizontally."
Only after extensive tests, including an MRI and CAT
scans, and visits to two different doctors was her diagnosis
confirmed. From the beginning, Garner says, she didn't
like the idea of open surgery. ("I said, 'Don't
make a hole in my head!' ") And when she learned
about a nonsurgical option from her doctor's referral
and from friends searching the Web, she jumped at the
chance. "This one friend of mine says 'It keeps
coming up Cleveland Clinic,' " says Garner, "so
I decided to see if I could get in there."
Her Cleveland Clinic hospitalization and recovery was
brief and uneventful, save a reaction to a dye used
in the procedures - and one humorous highlight. "I
told Dr. Rasmussen on the way up that I wanted to do
a tummy tuck and face-lift," Garner says. "He
laughed and said, 'I'm not going that way.'"
Through it all, Garner says she was never scared a
bit. "I was on prayer lists from here to Georgia,"
she says. "I have faith in Him and faith in the
doctor." Has the whole experience brought her any
earth-shaking revelations? "I don't know that I
have any," she says wryly. "Except to stay
close to my family and love everybody. And to take it
one day at a time."
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