I experienced my brain aneurysm January 26, 1992 (Super Bowl Sunday). I had had severe headaches for years. I did not have any migraine symptoms, but these headaches really put me under the table. The week before the bleed I had been out of town for 3 days on business. I returned on Wednesday and went to work on Thursday. I was there long enough to let the other employees into the Bank (I was the Bank Manager) and then leave. They told me I looked awful. I came home and went to bed. I tried to drift off to sleep thinking I would sleep it off, but every time I woke up, I was worse. I was vomiting profusely. I knew I was in trouble and remember laying in bed deciding who to call for help...who would just take over and not sit there asking me what to do!!!
I called my neighbor who came right away and called my doctor who was out of the office (of course). She took me to his office and his associate's nurse gave me a Demerol shot. I vomited all the way to the doctor's office and back. The shot did not help at all. By this time my neighbor had called my husband to come home because she knew this was nothing to fool around with. He took me to the local hospital emergency room. The Doctor there gave me another Demerol shot and told my husband that if I had not had a history of headaches, he really thought I should be kept for tests. But I just waived it off....after all, I was invincible!!!! I was too busy !!! This second shot did allow me to sleep.
Friday I had no headache, oddly though, I did not go to work!!! To this day I cannot tell you why!!! I ran errands. Others saw something was wrong. I stopped at my sister-in-law's to pick up my dry cleaning and she burst into tears after I left because she saw that something was wrong with me. I did go to work on Saturday. My district Manager was to be there on monday and I wanted to be prepared. I prepared a detailed budget and strategic plan to present to him and had all my copies made and bound and piled on my desk. Even though the bank closed at noon and everyone else went home then, I stayed. My assistant manager stayed until about 2:00 because she too saw that something was wrong with me. I paid all of my bills and had all the checks lined up on my computer. I called a friend who had invited us to a Super Bowl party on sunday and told her I had not been feeling well and we would probably not be at their party. I came home about 5:00. I don't remember if we even had dinner that night.
I woke up about 6:00 sunday morning, sat straight up, woke my husband and told him something was really really wrong with me and he had better get me to the hospital right now. He did. I was vomiting all the way. I did so many really funny things!!! I wore my sunglasses...even though it was dark out. My eyes were that sensitive to the light!!! I had been noticing my eyesight diminishing, but I really thought that was from the 800 mg. Ibupropin I was popping every 2-hours. My stomach was upset so I ate a lot of soda crackers (my mother's cure-all).
My husband drove me to the hospital, let me out at the emergency room door, told me to wait and he would park the car and take me in. I knew I could not wait for him. I walked in and took off my coat and crawled up on the table. The next thing I remember was my husband repeating the blood pressure readings, "Over 220...hummmmm". I knew that was too high. Unfortunately the doctor (and I use that term doctor loosely) on duty scolded me for misbehaving (when I had a seizure) and refused to examine me. I later found he was an Osteopath and this was probably just over his head. He called my doctor who ordered him to keep me there and not send me home. Lucky for me another doctor came on duty, looked at my chart, looked in my eyes, and ordered an ambulance to take me to a larger hospital with facilities to do a cat scan. My husband followed on the interstate . He said they cruised along at about 60 miles an hour and then suddenly the ambulance took off...I had another seizure.
The second hospital quickly did the CAT scan, told my husband I had a brain bleed and it was bad enough they felt I should be transported to another facility who was better equipped to deal with this type of bleed. Then they "lost" me. So the helicopter was called. In our state there are only 3 helicopter services in the entire state, so helicopters are not requested unless necessary. I was transported to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. You race fans of the Indy 500 will recognize the name. This is where people injured at the track are taken for treatment. I spent 23 days in the neuro-critical care unit. Yes, the same one Stan Fox was in.
I had surgery to clip the artery and had a stroke after the surgery. I learned to walk again. I initially had no feeling in my entire right side, but this has slightly improved. I still have double vision and macular damage (the middle of everything is a black blotch), sort of like when you look at the sun too long, except this does not go away. I try not to dwell on the deficiencies I now have.
I had a subarachnoid hemorrhage, probably caused by "fibromuscular dysplasia". I have another aneurysm in my carotid artery in my neck. We keep monitoring it to see if it changes. To say the least this event changed my entire life. My relationship with my husband has changed. I look at almost everything differently...much better. Perhaps I am just guilty of always looking for the opportunity in every event. But I can honestly say that not once have I said "why me". I have not felt sorry for myself or for my situation...self pity is so unattractive. I have been searching for 5-years now for the reason I survived this event. I know there is something I am to do, but I don't know what it is. If anyone who reads this can benefit from my experience, good. If anyone has any comments or questions, I am always open to conversation.
Discussion, comments, or questions: Janet Young