Well here goes....I wish to tell my story which I am sure will mirror so many on here.
On May 8, 2011 after working 10 hours I finally decided it was enough and went to bed. After a few minutes of relaxing, I felt a "pop" in my head. Thank god, my boyfriend was with me and noticed something was wrong. He noticed my eyes were glazed and I was not responding to his calls, but then my hand started to twitch which gave him hope I was still alive. It took him about 7-8 minutes to bring me back to him....and told me he was calling the ambulance. Well, I was not having it and asked him to just give me a few minutes and I would be find. I was totally unaware of what had happened. There was no way I was going to the hospital at 11:30 in the evening when I had a 7am meeting. Upon sitting up, I had a massive headache and started vomiting. I kept vomiting and lost all body functions....when I started vomiting blood, I knew something was wrong.
I spent 20 years as an x-ray technician at the local hospital and 8 years doing medical billing so I certainly didn't want to bother the doctors unless it was important.....well this was important. My bedroom was on the 3rd floor and there was no way I was going to let them carry me out on a stretcher....I walked to the ambulance!! Upon arriving at the hospital, I was quickly attended to with IV's, labs and a CT scan. My friend was the head nurse that night and went to CT with me. He told me that I had a bleed and it didn't even register what was happening. I was Mercyflighted to the hospital in Buffalo, NY when I underwent treatment. It turned out that I had 2 aneurysms (1 ruptured, 1 did not). The next 21 days were spent in the neuro ICU. The rupture was treated with coils. After a few days, I tried to convince the doctors that my headaches were from lack of caffiene....his response was..."I think not...I think it's from the tubes that are in your head"!! I had no idea that I had tubes coming out of my head and all I wanted to know was when I could return to work!!
Much to everyone's suprise, I walked out of the hospital 22 days after admission. I did well except for constant headaches until about a month later. My 1st follow up appointment went well and after leaving the dr's office, I started "running" and "stumbling" down the hall. My parents tried to convince me to return to the office and I refused. I was convinced that I was just tired and the doctor was way to busy to be bothered. Well, after 5 days of falling, incontinence and no ability to complete sentences my son did his research and convinced me that I needed to see the doctor. Reluctantly, I agreed to go back to the hospital. This was the first of my many subsequent hospitalizations and spinal taps for hydrocephalus. As soon as they started draining the fluid, my mind became clear and could answer questions I had been asked the day before!!
Six weeks and 4 hospitalizations later, the doctors decided to try doing a ventriculostomy to help the fluid drain. Again, this was unsuccessful so the next step was a VP shunt (probably the worst of any of the procedures).
It has now been 1 and 1/2 years since the placement of the shunt. I also had a pipeline placed over the ruptured aneurysm and the unruptured aneurysm coiled since then. Everyday headaches and numbness are normal...the doctors believe the shunt is sitting on nerves.
I know that I am so lucky to be alive. I have a wonderful boyfriend who has stood by me through all of this and 2 wonderful children who have been my rocks. I have no clue what I would do without them. I am still unable to work because I never know how severe the headaches will be when I wake up but I do wake up so I am grateful.