Hi all and thanks for welcoming me to this site, I now feel strong enough to share my story which began in January 2011 with difficulty swallowing which my GP diagnosed as acid reflux, then in April came severe pain in neck and back of head, again GP said it was old whiplash injury from 20yrs ago. I was given lots of codeine for pain, valium as muscle relaxant and anti inflammatory meds but the pain was still horrendous, nobody seemed to understand and GP's said everyone has headaches so I continued to suffer, the only respite was when sleeping. They eventually did an MRI but only on neck so never saw the problem. On November 5 2011, guy fawkes, I had friends for dinner which was a godsend as I live alone and felt reasonably fine apart from the usual pain, when I visited the bathroom, was washing hands and then woke up in intensive care after brain coiling. My friends say I was unconscious on floor, foaming at mouth. They called for ambulance and I was very lucky as one was passing who took me to hospital for CT scan. When I woke in ICU, I was shocked when docs said I'd had a massive subarachnoid brain hemmorrhage and I was lucky to be alive as it was a 25mm vertebrobasilar on my brain stem which had burst, they said most people don't survive rupture from this area, they then they coiled it as it wasn't suitable for clipping. After 3 weeks in ICU and another 2 weeks in HDU, I went home but was very scared something else was going to happen but hospital assured me everything would now be fine, I was still unsure so went for private CT and was told I have 3 more!! I have 2 cerebral mirror image aneurysms and a 6mm posterior communicating aneurysm. I have now changed hospitals and am under Addenbrookes in Cambridge, UK which is apparently one of the best in the country who have done angiograms and several MRA's etc. They recently found my left MCA of 8mm has now got a daughter aneurysm on the side of it so they want to do craniotomy as soon as possible to prevent another rupture so will be having surgery within next few weeks. On a different note it's amazing how resilient we are when life throws these kind of things at us and it does make you realize how lucky and fortunate you are to be alive and to see the beauty in everything that you may not have noticed before. My surgeon still says it's a miracle I survived the rupture and I must have survived for a purpose, which hopefully is to win the lottery and use half to open an animal sanctuary for all the furry teddies no one wants and the other half to open a much needed aneurysm support group in the UK. God bless all.
Hi Susannah! Thank you for sharing your amazing story; YOU are certainly a walking Miracle and here for many of God's specific purposes; some of which He's yet to reveal to you :))! And Love your Positive Mental attitude thru this health trial --> we do know that it's thru some of the darkest moments in Life where some of the Greatest Blessings surface! Will be holding you UP in my daily talks with God for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.
Love & Blessings from the US to the UK!!!
Michele
Thank you for sharing your story ... Susannah...you are very lucky to be alive ... and one strong lady...now surgery...please keep us posted of when this will happen...You will be kept in my Thoughts...positive vibes being sent your way ~ Colleen
Hi Susannah
I hope that you are well and recovered from your trials this year.
Best wishes for Christmas and 2015
Kind Regards
martin