This past April 18 2013, I had a brain aneurysm rupture, resulting in a Subarachnoid hemorrhage.
I had spent the whole day cleaning the house (my dog was diagnosed with diabetes that very day, and as a result had become incontinent...) to prepare for an overnight visit from 2 of my best friends. Within 10 minutes of my friends arrival, I felt a rather strange sensation in my head - a pop or a twang or I don't know how to describe it, beside unique and bad. Determined to 'bush it off' I sat for few minutes while the pain got increasingly worse. I went up to my room and as the pain in my head intensified, I experienced auditory disruption (a flapping sound), nausea, vomiting, dizziness, etc. I told my husband to call the ambulance because I needed help. The EMT's arrived and transported me to our local hospital (unfortunately this occurred just as a friend was dropping my 10 year old son home from cub scouts...) where they did an MRI - confirmed blood on the brain - and began discussing transport to another facility.
The next thing i knew I woke up (I think 2 days later?). I (am told) I then had 3 days of conciseness, and then the Vaso Spasm started and I had to be medically sedated for 10 days fro treatment of that. During that time I also experienced congestive heart failure, a blood clot and a second aneurysm was discovered.
When I was brought back to consciousness I was shocked to discover it was almost 3 weeks since my 'fist ever ambulance ride'. Two days short of a month in the SICU I was discharged May 15th 2013.
Next, on July of this year (2013) I was re-admitted to clip the second aneurysm. This procedure was less traumatic than the first, and went off with out complications, but the recovery has been 'a bear'.
So here I am now, and on Tuesday Oct 15th, just 3 days shy of 6 months to the day of my rupture and SAH I will be returning to work full time. It's been a long 6 months, and not the way I ever would have wanted to get 6 months away from work :-) but I am so thankful to be where I am now. I didn't even realize how lucky I am until I have started to educate myself and learn more about Aneurysm and Subarachnoid hemorrhage.
It is my goal to take this experience and use it to 'count my blessings' and to be a better, more charitable, more compassionate person. So many people so selflessly helped me so much over the past 6 months, I surely want to model myself in this image going forward.
thanks for reading my story - it has felt rather good to type all this out :-)