Welcome Traci,
Like FinWhale, I am sharing from a patient perspective and everyone’s experience vary as it relates to recovery, fatigue, etc.
I ruptured January 5th this year, and like your husband, maintained my faculties. After being coiled a few days later, had a coil/stent procedure of a second smaller unruptured aneurysm 3 months later (April 2), re-stent of that second one another 3 months after that (July 19) and then finally, stent of the original ruptured one a month ago on Halloween(!). Btw, has he had any follow ups since April - no stents or such?
I also “appear” to have all my faculties and no impact on speech. The last visit with my neurosurgeon though (last week), I asked what he “typically” saw for recovery with a patient like me. He cautioned that it is deceptive that even if I “appear” to be interacting and “present,” a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which happens with a rupture, will 100% have neurological damage, thereby disrupting neural pathways. In my case as it relates to my job, he advised that it may likely affect high executive function that would make my job difficult for me… and so what does that mean? This is one definition Executive Function | Psychology Today but you can Google some more of course.
Again, this is based on what I understand from my doc and what I have interpreted - totally open to any alternate views on this from other members and their own experiences. All that to say, that it would seem to me that your husband’s executive function to “control” scrolling FB and just staring at movies and series after series, is likely from the neurological damage he had(?) that impacted his Executive Functions. Again, I am no doctor, so take this with a grain of salt. It could also be depression as you say with a dash of PTSD from the realization of what “could have happened.”
Short term, bite-sized things he can do to reconnect his pathways according to my neurosurgeon — reduce screen time, read physical paper books (not on the phone/electronics), make notes from reading with pen and paper, journal and if he is so inclined, doodling or painting:
A little art therapy. I am personally working on doing these myself, since it was kind of news to me, but I suppose logical.
One last bit that he shared in response to my question is that it could take two to five years to reconnect the pathways that were disrupted by the rupture — meaning I need to work on redeveloping my executive function skills by doing those tidbits mentioned above. It has allowed me to give myself some grace when I can’t focus or “get things done.” It can be very frustrating and depressing to not move the speed you used to. I like @FinWhaleFan’s suggestion to also connect with a support group. I haven’t done that myself, but I see my dog park friends and I also noticed this weekend with friends over for Thanksgiving that it really pepped up my spirits. I suppose, if you are religious, going to church and connecting with a community can also help.
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Adding to my post:
Oh, and yeah, fatigue is something I have to manage as well - I take a 45-60 min nap every afternoon. With reference to the waking in the middle of the night that you mentioned… for a few months after I left ICU, I did the same — waking in the middle of the night — I would say more so from PTSD of sorts, crying, replaying things in my head. Not really sure how it subsided other than I would play some meditation/soft acoustic music to distract my thoughts (I think I did a trial on one of those apps, but Amazon Music has a station). I still play it to take my nap. My husband said he actually found it relaxing, so didn’t mind me playing it to go to sleep.
All the best,
K.