Almost 100 percent

Sue Mortenson has overcome most of the debilitating effects of a bursting brain aneurysm to start life anew

By KAY JOHNSON
Staff Writer
In the July issue of Hometown Happenings published by the Hutchinson Area Chamber of Commerce, Convention and Visitors Bureau, there was an insert introducing Sue Mortenson's business, Office Help. This insert is more than a business announcement. It's proof that she's back and almost as good as new.

Oh, the pain
Sue Mortenson's world can be divided in half: before the aneurysm and after. Originally from Olivia, Mortenson and her family moved to Hutchinson in the late 1980s when the law firm she worked for opened an office in town. Mortenson was the receptionist at the law firm and volunteered for a variety of organizations including the downtown association, MainStreet Hutchinson. Her ready smile, outgoing personality and infectious sense of fun made Sue a popular addition to any group. After leaving her position at the law firm, she relaunched her own home-based business, Office Help, providing freelance secretarial services, a business that she had started in Olivia. In September 2000, she opted to take a new position, staff assistant at the Hutchinson Area Chamber of Commerce office in downtown Hutchinson. Her boss was the late Vi Mayer. It was a job she loved because it provided constant people contact. With the phone ringing 100 times a day or more, Mortenson was the perfect person to field calls and answer questions. It was during her tenure with the chamber that she began experiencing severe headaches. "I didn't think anything about it," she said. "I'd go to the emergency room for treatment. They'd pump me full of morphine and periodically I'd have some tests runs." When the headaches became increasingly worse. Her doctor referred her to a neurologist, who found an aneurysm behind her left eye. An aneurysm occurs when the wall of a blood vessel is weak and stretches out. It needs to be repaired because it can lead to stroke or death if it should burst. To repair the damaged vessel, the skull is opened and treatment consists of clipping the vessel or inserting a specialized coil into the vessel via a catheter in the groin. In Mortenson's case, her doctor recommended an experimental treatment, which has been used successfully in Europe, where liquid onyx is inserted via a catheter in the groin. The material transforms into a spongy mass that prevents blood from entering the aneurysm. Mortenson qualified for the study and opted to go with it. Since it wasn't an emergency procedure, the surgery was scheduled for Jan. 29, 2001, at Abbott-Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. "I went into the hospital on Thursday and planned to be back at work the following Tuesday," Sue said. Sue's husband, Bruce, expected the surgery to last 2 1/2 to 3 hours. He settled in and waited.

The unexpected
After the five-hour procedure, the surgeon asked Bruce to step into a private consultation room. His first words were, "We just about lost her." "The aneurysm burst during surgery," Bruce said. "Sue was in intensive care for 23 days and she spent 23 days at Sister Kenny. She had several strokes after the aneurysm burst. Her whole right side was affected." While in intensive care, Mortenson developed pneumonia, which no one expected her to recover from. "I called our two daughters and told them we don't know," he said. "It wasn't good." After the pneumonia cleared from her lungs, Sue remained unresponsive. "The nurses kept asking her to squeeze their hands and they'd get no response," Bruce said. "I asked if I could try something. I told Sue, 'Put your right foot in, put your right foot out. We did the Hokey Pokey and she responded by moving her foot. I knew then she'd be OK."
"I had to learn to walk again," Sue said. "I had speech therapy and I couldn't remember what happened to me. When I was at Sister Kenny, it clicked. All of a sudden I knew who I was." Sue was released from the hospital to return home in March 2001. She continued with physical therapy in Hutchinson taking the taxi to her appointments. She also had a personal care attendant who came to her home to assist her. "I couldn't button my own clothes," Sue said. In April 2001, Sue's daughter, Amy, was to be married. Her friend, Sue Walser, stepped in and helped by doing all the things a mother would do. When the big day arrived, Sue was able to attend. "There were lots of tears," Bruce said. "And, they didn't have anything to do with the wedding." Sue continued with physical therapy. Although she saw progress in her physical condition, she said at times she was very depressed by what had happened to her life. At one point, she was so down that she intentionally overdosed on sleeping pills hoping to commit suicide. When she woke up the next morning, she told Bruce, "I'm sorry you didn't get your birthday present. I felt like I was such a drag on him, a burden." "I was mad," Bruce said. "I call things the way I see it, I told her if you were a burden I'd tell you or I'd leave." Bruce said after that there were no more sleeping pills. Sue went into therapy to help her adjust to her changed circumstances. In January 2002, she had her last appointment at Sister Kenny, where she was told, "You're as good as you're going to be." The news shocked Sue. When she shared with Bruce what she had been told, she broke down sobbing. "By them saying that," Bruce said, "she really got busy."

One day at a time
Unwilling to accept the therapist's assessment of her condition, Sue looked around for something that would really motivate her to push forward. She found it in her class reunion. "We hadn't had one in 30 years, so I decided I'd put one together for the following year," she said. "The class reunion got me going. I don't know why I picked it, but I needed something and it came to me." Bruce said Sue was possessed by the idea. "It was wonderful," he said. She spent a year collecting the mailing addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for the Olivia High School class of 1968. In the end, she created a book with a page with photos and information devoted to each member of the class. It was well received. "I developed my skills through the process of working on the class reunion," Sue said.

Back to work
When Sue was ready to return to work, she discovered the world saw her differently than they used to. "People saw me as handicapped," she said. She found employment through Experience Works, a national, nonprofit, community-based organization whose mission is to put the experience of older individuals to work. They placed her in the office of Crow River Habitat for Humanity in Hutchinson. When this job ended, Sue applied for a couple of different jobs and was told she was hired, only to see each job evaporate. "I was so mad," Bruce said. "I wanted to drive over and tell these people, 'She can do the job.'" When her home computer broke, she took it apart and fixed it. In the meantime, she called Simon Leung, a computer technician, to stop by and look at it. After looking at what she had done, he told her she was incredible. "I can do anything on a computer," she said. His vote of confidence got her thinking, maybe she should do something with computers. He planted the seed that encouraged her to relaunch her home-based business, Office Help. "Now that I look back, I probably wasn't ready to work for someone else," she said. "Working from home is probably the best thing for me."

Observations of a new life
Much has changed for Sue and Bruce Mortenson since her surgery in 2001. "Our relationship has changed," Bruce said. "I'm much more of a caregiver than I used to be. This is something I choose to do." Sue said Bruce, her husband of 17 years, has been by her side throughout her recovery. "He's been absolutely wonderful." She said she learned that family is valuable and so are good friends.
Golf was a hobby she shared with Bruce, but it's now something that Sue can't play anymore. "I can't hang on to the club," she said. She also can't sit down and read a book. "I lose my concentration," she said. Although her life has definitely changed, she experienced a moment of triumph when she returned to Sister Kenny. "I'm in much better shape today than they thought I would ever be," she said, with a smile. "When I visited Sister Kenny, the staff couldn't believe how far I'd come." With a new business, five grandchildren and a happy marriage, Sue Mortenson has a lot to be thankful for. "I'm very satisfied where I'm at," she said.