My name is Mary and at the time I was 59 years old.
I am hardly ever sick. I don’t take medicine without an immediate need, not even over the counter. I have a very high threshold for pain. I don’t care for hospitals and despise needles of any sort. So when you read the following first person medical account, please take those characteristics into consideration.
In the wee hours of the morning, September 8th, 2014, I awoke sweating profusely. By profusely I mean a dripping sweat accompanied by the worst headache I had ever experienced. I woke my husband, telling him something was wrong, asked that he get the blood pressure cuff so I could check my pressure. I took my pressure and it was high. My head felt like it was in a vise and I had soaked my clothes, sweat was still dripping off my face, as if I had just cut grass on 100 degree day. My husband, Phil asked what he could do. Did I need to go to the ER? I said no, I was just going to take Tylenol, lay down until the alarm went off.
At five, the appointed alarm time, I knew I would not be going to work. I got up, put in for a sub, emailed my colleagues to the fact I would not be at school. The headache was still persisting and I tried to lay down and stay quiet. By mid-morning, I was still in pain. My daughter, Anna offered to take me to my primary care doctor. When we arrived at his office he asked about my symptoms. I told him that this was a migraine (basing my diagnosis on work and family stresses, of which he was aware); explained about waking up in the middle of the night, the high blood pressure and profuse sweating. He gave me a shot of Demerol for the pain and Phenergan for nausea. I went home and for the next few days stayed flat on my back and quiet.
I missed the next two days of school. By Thursday, September 11th, the fourth day with no real improvement, my daughter insisted that I go to the ER. She took me to the closest ER, where I explained the series of events and how I was feeling. The administered Dilaudid via IV. That was going to pretty much take care of it for the ER, except my daughter wanted the ER doctor to schedule a CT scan. Her plea was echoed by my neighbor and colleague, Sheila, who had come to the ER for moral support. The doctor finally relented and I had a CT scan without contrast. The result we were told was nothing showed up. Home I went and missed another day of work.
I had a very quiet weekend and Monday I went back to work. The headache was now a manageable pain due to Tylenol. I worked the next two weeks managing the pain but not without other issues that seemed to arise. I began to have problems with my vision, sometimes blurriness or a radiating aura in the path of my sight. My speech was garbled, I would flip syllables or a word would come out mispronounced. When talking with my classes, I just said “rewind” and started over. My gait seemed off balance as if I was leaning to one side. At times I did not feel that I had complete control of myself. I started to worry a bit.
In the early morning hours of September 29th, I awoke with another severe headache, this time accompanied by nausea. It was not quite as painful as the first one, but I knew I would not be going to work. I followed the same protocol, stayed flat on my back and quiet. I missed the next five days of school, again. I went back to work Monday and worked for the next two weeks. Sometime in between there had been another visit to my family practice physician and the ER. During this time my family, Phil, Anna and Sam are becoming more concerned.
Phil had contacted a Neurologist that he knew to seek his advice. Anna was pushing me to go to the ER at GRU. She said that if I did they would schedule an MRI. I was not interested in that. I told her that “it was a ruse”, it would be another useless trip. At this point I was tired of doctors’ and ER visits and no answers. I had not had success with finding a Neurologist to visit and had chalked up the headaches to work and family related stress, which had been building for the last year. Due to the unending persistence of family I did go to the ER at GRU in October. After explaining many times, the time line of events and symptoms they did in fact schedule me for an MRI. The date October 20th, 2014, five weeks after the worst headache of my life, I may get some answers.
The MRI was in the afternoon and I picked up Anna after school on my way to GRU. The test was administered and I was told they would let me know what if anything showed up. Home I went.
On October 21st, I had just finished teaching two classes when Sheila (not only my neighbor but the principal’s secretary at the school of which I am employed) shows up at my classroom door. She tells me that Phil has called her and that GRU had been trying to reach me. As a rule I do not keep my cell phone handy, so I ask her what Phil had to say. She tells me he said that they found something on the MRI and I am not to drive, that she is to take me to the ER now. At the same time two of my colleagues have come in and as I hastily try to throw lessons together for the remainder of the day, I give the news to them. Both take over and tell me no worries, they will handle everything. Out the door we go.
On the drive down I remember Sheila telling me how calm I was. I told her that I did not know what I was dealing with yet, no sense in speculating. I will worry when I know what it is. When we arrive at the ER, Phil and Anna are there. Sam was at work but had been called. Once we are all seated Phil tells me what the MRI revealed. I am quickly called to the admitting desk and then taken to a room. Once we are all situated the rounds of medical personnel visits begin. I am telling the same information over and over, while they are repeating the same mantra “you are one in fifty”.
The MRI revealed that I had suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. I had no knowledge about this condition or the symptoms. As my husband was told 30% drop dead on the spot, 30% make it to the hospital and then die, 30% make it and sustain some type of damage and then there is your wife. A CT scan with contrast was scheduled and a nurse took me upstairs for the test. I held it together while I was down stairs in the ER for my family. However once we were upstairs I feel apart. The nurse was so kind and reassuring but I was trying to process the information and waiting to hear what was going to happen next. After the test I was wheeled back down to the ER, and along the way I managed to compose myself.
While waiting for the CT scan results we kept the conversation minimal. I still did not know what the treatment would involve. Finally the neurologist, Dr. Scott Rahimi came in to talk with me and the family. He introduced himself and then proceeded to lay out the treatment; I had two options, endovascular coiling or surgical clipping. The coiling was less invasive, but there is a risk of re-bleeding. The clipping requires cutting the skull and using a metal clip to stop the blood flow. He explained that both have risks. After some thought and several questions to Dr. Rahimi, it was decided that the endovascular coiling was the way to go. There was no room available in the surgical suite, so I was taken to a room in Shock Trauma. Scheduling for the procedure had begun and it was going to happen that afternoon. The rest of the story has been pieced together by my family.
Around four that day I went up to the surgical suite to have the endovascular coiling. The doctor had told my family that it would take a few hours and that if they did not see someone before an hour had passed, that would be a sign that things were going well. If they saw someone before that time it would indicate that the coiling was not going to be the preferred treatment and the clipping method would be the alternative. They settle in for the wait. Within forty minutes Anna and Phil see Dr. Rahimi coming down the hall. I was told that my daughter lost it right then and there. Fortunately it was not the news they had been prepped for, some of the equipment in the surgical suite was not working properly. They were going to move me to another suite and begin again. In thirty minutes the doctor is down the hall again, the equipment in this room is not working as it should. By now I can only imagine the stress on my family. The third time is the charm, but it is now very late in the evening. Dr. Rahimi inserted eleven coils sealing the aneurysm and the procedure was complete. I awoke the next day on the Neuro-intensive care unit at GRU. I remained in the hospital until October 24th, at which time I was discharged. I returned to work two weeks later.
Trying to put this down on paper has not been an easy task. The entire ordeal seems somewhat surreal even now; a little over three years later. I went almost eight weeks from the “worst headache of my life” to having a diagnosis and the ruptured aneurysm treated. I am aware of how fortunate I am to still be alive and I am grateful for every day. I am thankful for Dr. Rahimi’s surgical skill, without him I would not be here today. I am appreciative to all of the GRU staff that assisted me throughout my surgery and recovery. I am forever grateful to God.
Footnote: I have had follow up angiograms in January 2015 and March 2016, an MRA in March of 2017 to monitor the coils. Currently all seems well except for a tiny bubble at the neck. Dr. Rahimi and I have discussed the possibility of an LVIS stent.
