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The Doctor Told Me I Had a Brain Aneurysm
Lucky for me he was wrong but there were other issues.
The neurologist broke the news. “You have an aneurysm,” he said. He didn’t say, maybe, and pointed to a dark spot on the film.
An aneurysm is an arterial balloon-like bulge caused by a weakening of the artery wall.
What played in my head was, Grandma-the-Clown is being inducted into the Circus Ring of Fame, because I’d heard it on the radio that morning followed by, An aneurysm, I knew it! and presented the doctor with a greeting card, one from my own collection which was being test-marketed. We had chit-chatted about it during my in-take appointment. He suggested I bring a card to the follow-up, this meeting, so I did.
He said, “You have an aneurysm.” I handed him a card.
The card showed a line drawing of a dog and a cat on a cliff with several dead cats in the valley below. The headline read: Nine, my ass. You’ve got at least fifteen. Go on, it’s fun!
The doctor opened the card. It was blank inside. He looked up and smiled. It was clear he didn’t get it. I smiled, too, then I thought, there’s something wrong with my brain.
I’ve had migraines since age ten. My mother’s father died of a brain tumor when she was ten — they took him…
