Recovery Story
My father (57) had an ACOM Aneurysm rupture in the month of June 2021. It was a grade 4 Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. Luckily he had no Vassospasms, his stay in the hospital was marked by Violent fits of rage, fist banging and confusion. He used to imagine being in a different city, used to confabulate and could not really remember events of the immediate past (short term memory). The thing to mark about him was that he was extremely agitated, shouting and angry. The doctors had to increase his dosage of Kepra just to calm him down. He was also extremely disinhibited which resulted in sexually colored remarks being uttered by him when he was in the ICU. He also suffered from bladder incontinence throughout his stay in the hospital.
After his release from the ICU (12th day) , his disinhibition decreased but changed targets. It was no more sexual disinhibition but disinhibition in saying things which are generally private to one’s family to unknown people. He would generally talk to the nurses, doctors and ward officials about me, as to how I was an unworthy and thankless son (our relationship had been great before the rupture and I did not expect this to come out). He would also discuss as to how he viewed his wife (my mom) as a nuisance creator with the nurses, doctors and ward members. These thing used to pierce my mom a lot since she was the primary caregiver for my father.
He continued to stay in the hospital till the 22nd day. After his release, his confabulations saw an explosion. He would start talking as to how a few moments prior, he saw a doppelganger of mine, and therefore concluded that he had two sons (I am the only son). This continued for a while (3 weeks post release to be exact). All the while, he underwent Physical rehabilitation therapy in the OPD. These confabulations were mostly intense during early morning (after he woke up), in the afternoon just before he went to sleep and at mid night when he used to go to sleep. A general observation was that his confabulations increased when he grew tired.
Post 3 weeks, his confabulations decreased dramatically but we ended up noticing major personality changes. He started being unconcerned towards his wife and child and did not generally bother talking to us. He had always been a family guy, so this was kind of weird to us. He grew close to his mother, his brothers (who generally took advantage of him and maintained a pure one sided relationship) and his fights with us became frequent on minor issues. It was then we realized, that his personality change had ended up creating a pathological disgust against me and my mother. He blamed us for being the reason as to why he was not close to his brothers and mother.
While I thought that the ceasing of confabulations would be the end point of the roller coaster ride. I have come to realize that personality cunages can literally change a person’s approach towards you.