I Consider Myself Very Fortunate

I live in Springfield, Illinois and had been having headaches a couple times a week that aspirin along some sleep would usually help.

I had a ruptured cerebral (brain) aneurysm on 05/05/05. I consider myself very fortunate mainly because my husband happened to be there to call 911. He was a cross country truck driver last year and would have been gone. Therefore, I would have lain down and just went to sleep after passing out. Luckily I was still awake and already home after working in the early evening. My husband kept me awake until help arrived that evening I had my rupture. It ended up being the most excruciating pain I ever felt and hope to ever feel in my head. Actually it felt like someone stabbed me before I started vomiting and passed out.

That is all I remember. My family told me the rest. I was in intensive care for 3 weeks and like some of the other stories I read on this website, I do not recall the first week and a half afterwards. I had to be flown by helicopter to a hospital in another city 90 miles away that evening and went through 3 surgeries during the 33 days in the hospital. Luckily, I made a 100% recovery and am back to work full time now. I was determined to get my normal routine back in my life. This was not going to beat me. I went through all the rehab within 1 1/2 months after being released and am now living life just as before -- of course with a few changes.

I have to go back and get an angiogram in 3-5 years. I do not have to take any blood pressure medications, and I was fortunate to not be paralyzed in any way. This rupture was on my right side. I have a clip.

I thank God also for my personal care health insurance. My bill was $275,000 after everything. I only had to come up with $150.00 co-pay.

I was a smoker for 25 years. I am 42 and am now a non-smoker. My husband has been wonderful during this experience. He has also been a long time smoker and has quit with me. It has not been easy. When my neurosurgeon asked if I stopped, I thought, "This is a very serious factor for him to be concerned with asking, so it’s a must, especially after a brush with death".

I was told I would find myself feeling stronger. This is the truth; everyday I have noticed. In the beginning I was afraid of driving, falling, heights, stairs, tripping -- anything that would effect my head injury. I was stressed out, but I have overcome all of that now. I feel very strong, but I will not take it for granted. I was told by my surgeon, who is Dr. Lanzino in Peoria, Illinois, that out of 5 people with a rupture like mine that 2 don’t live, 2 are developmentally disabled and only 1 lives a normal life. How fortunate I feel to be that 1 normal person.

My mother (God love her for being there everyday with me along with my husband) thought for sure I would be disabled. I will probably never give up my squishy pillow that I have to lay my head on. I made my husband go buy me one around 2 a.m. one night in the hospital in intensive care. It’s strange what your brain thinks of during times like these. I didn’t have one at home in the first place.

Thank you for giving me this space to tell my story. I do consider myself very fortunate and am told that by friends and family quite often.