My daughter, Amanda, had a brain aneurysm rupture while at work at Sherman Hospital where she was a neonatal nurse on July 27, 2004. She had no previous symtoms of any problems. She had that infamous "worse headache" and screamed out. Since I have migraines, she thought she was having her first one and another nurse walked out with her to go to the ER for help with the pain. Just as she stepped into the hall, Amanda fell and went into a seizure and was taken to the ER where surgery was done to open her skull and relieve the pressure. From there she was air lifted to a hospital in downtown Chicago where the ruptured aneurysm was clipped. She remained there in a coma for about a month and then was flown here to AL where she, her husband and baby daughter had planned to move back to before the rupture. She was paralazed on her left side at the time but has regained use of that side. She was in various rehab hospitals until Jan. 2005 when she came to live with me and my husband. She can see but is declared legally blind because of limited vision field. She is constantly dizzy but over time has learned to control that. She has severe short and long term memory loss which causes the most sadness for her. She knows what she was and what she had and wants her life back. She continues to live with me as her husband did divorce her after she came out of the hospital. Physically, she continues to improve - does water aerobics five days a week. We have a caregiver who takes care of her five days a week.
Kay,
Welcome to BAF and I am sorry to hear of the problems that your daughter has had to deal with. I pray that every day, she will continue to improve and become closer to the person she wants to be. As far as getting her life back, that will never happen, unfortunately.
As annie survivors we continue to learn and grow the "new" us every day. We will never be who we were before that. We will get stronger every day, we will see every day in what we hope to be a new brighter light, and hopefully, we will live full and satisfying lives.
I pray that your daughter finds peace and acceptance of her life and continues to improve daily. I like to share with new members A Letter From Your Brain which can help put into perspective the journey they face. Please share this with your daughter and anyone who is involved in her care. It has helped many of us face each new day of our new lives.
You and your daughter will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Linda
Wow Kay,
What a journey your Daughter has had so far. The marvelous thing is that you have stayed by her side and it sounds like intuatively do are doing all the right things because she is getting better. It may be worth getting her reviewed again in Chicago because things have moved on treatment wise to see if there is anything now that can add to her improvement. How lucky was she to be in a Hospital when it happened? I really hope that your daughter continues to go from strength to strength. I had my procedure in January but I am also a carer for my husband. I had to both recover and care at the same time so I will say prayers for both of you because being a carer is a hard job.
Jennifer x
Again Kay...Welcome to BAF ~
My heart goes out to you and your daughter, but you love for her is so inspiring to me...
Thank~you for your note to my page...my recent angiogram was met with confusion and I was told I have slight residual and in time may need coils added because a small amount of blood flow feeding my annie...I embrace the good days and the not so good days...~ God Bless you and your daughter...Cyber~hugs and prayers ~ Colleen
Thank you, Linda. I've printed out the Letter and will share it with Amanda later. This weekend is her weekend to have her daughter, Avery, here with us so we'll be busy enjoying her. She is with us two weekends out of each month.
From the way you write, you seem to have come a long way in your healing.
Thank you for prayers - I do believe in the power of God and Jesus.
Kay
Wow right back to you. I'm amazed that you are a survivor and along with that a caregiver for your husband. We haven't been back to Chicago but I have mailed her doctor there and I do go on site sometimes to see if there are any new happenings or research that might help her with her memory loss but there is nothing so far. Thank you for your prayers and I pray for you and your husband.
Kay
Hi Colleen,
I'm sorry to hear that you are having some bleeding. I've done some reading on the coils after Amanda was clipped. They were not an option for her since hers had ruptured. You have such a postive attitude. My prayers go with you.
Kay
Hi Kay,
I was lucky, I found my Annie by chance on a CT scan on a visit to an ENT doctor. It was already big enough to bleed out so I had it treated with a pipeline stent. I was already a caregiver before this chance finding and for 8 months now we have been muddling through. My recovery period. I am so sorry that your daughter's husband left when she needed him the most. I will pray that she gets her life back and finds the right person.
Jennifer x
I've heard of a few others who found their Annie (I'm having to get used to calling it that.) by a chance find while looking for another problem. It's wonderful that yours was found. Amanda's husband filed a few months after she was home from the hospital. I don't think he felt that he could handle Amanda and Avery who was almost 2 at that time. Amanda knew Scott after her rupture but while in the last rehab hospital, she had three small strokes and forgot who he was. I think that put him over the edge; he just couldn't handle it. It will take a miracle for her memory to return enough that she could ever be on her own but it is slowly better with tiny steps.
Kay
time and love as the greatest healers.
Hang in there, Kay! You are an amazing mother! I'm sure Amanda is sooooo appreciative of your being there for her! It must be so frustrating for her. Can she write or hold a paint brush? Creation is such a wonderful healing thing... as is this forum if she can get online and read/share with us. Maybe with your help?
Welcome!
Tara
Dear Kay,
I am very sorry to read of the trials that your daughter and your family have had during her journey of recovery. I pray that each day will be better than the day before and that God will continue to bless you all.
Take care,
Caeole
Amanda can write and read but not reading anything like a novel since she forgets what she has read and loses the plot. We're done some emailing with her typing but it's very slow going for her because of her vision even with font very large. I do sit with her and type out her anwers to her friends. She doesn't really enjoy painting; we've tried that and making pot holders and writing a journal - none have been successful. She can't do any cooking; again because of her limited vision, she could easily burn herself. She does water aerobics five days a week which she enjoys and she enjoys game shows on TV.
Thank you for your prayers. Are you a survivor or caregiver?
Kay
Kay,
I am a 43 year survivor. Today is the anniversary of my clipping.
Carole
Congrats. That's so awesome.
Kay
Kay- I am incredibly touched by your daughter's story. Thank you for sharing it; I am so glad you have found this site as this group is such tremendous support to one another. I hope you will find it very helpful. I am so sorry about the struggles your daughter continues to face, and especially the sadness she faces. I pray for you both. I can tell you are an exceptionally strong and loving person, as I can imagine care giving must be both emotionally and physically difficult. I hope for continued milestones of success as you both continue to fight for her improvement. Does your daughter enjoy music? My down days do not compare, but I am often amazed at how much a cheerful classical song or even a non-classical soft relaxing melody can lift me.
Cindy
hi kay! so sorry to hear this but glad she is improving and has you and the caregiver helping as well. Feel free to vent or ask questions- people here really care, will keep you in our prayers along with Amanda, i am 3 yrs post and i'm currently getting dizzy spells which they are going to check shunt with mra & x ray. Is Amanda able to read the computer screen? this was very difficult for me since i cant see out of the left- but has been very helpful- i even learned to type one handed! good luck,and may God bless you & yours!
Cindy, thanks for your kind words. This site is being very helpful. I do hope to find more caregivers to share with. I'm not always strong. sometimes sadness washes all over me and sometimes I do bark out at Amanda after she says the same thing over and over and over but God is good and he's helping me, I believe, to handle this better as time goes on. My heart breaks for Amanda especially when she cries for her old life. Amanda does love listening to music especially Christian music so we do that some; she loves game shows and she love "Friends" so we record the reruns and have also purchased the entire "Friends" series. I meant to read your story before I repied but now I'm this far into my reply so I'm going back now and read your story. I'm wondering if you are a survivor or a caregive.
Kay
Hi Ron,
Thanks for writing. I'm sorry you are having dizzy spells and praying they will be able to find and correct the problem. Amanda can read the screen; I'm made the font on her page very large and we bought a large keyboard for her but discovered that it was just too tiring for her. Her left field vision is almost gone and top vision is gone and some of right field is gone so it tires her to keep moving her head to just the right position to see the screen. I do read emails to her from her friends and then I type back what she wants to say.
I know this will be a place to get and give encouragement and to "vent" which I guess will always come but not as much as it did at first.
God bless you too,
Kay