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The Storm

They had predicted a snowstorm for the afternoon of 2/24/98, but no one had predicted the storm I was about to meet. I had a headache for most of the day and it was more intense than I had ever experienced, I remember that morning considering not going to work because of it. Once at work I called my doctor's office in an attempt to get an appointment to see him, I had no success even with asking to speak with the supervisor, they had no appointments available and after all it was only a headache. Well with the impending snowstorm I had wanted to get home before the storm started but made it no further than one block from the parking garage, and I did not get home to stay for more than 3 months. Sixty five days in the hospital and another forty five days at my brother's home, finally in mid-June I was allowed to return to my home, how wonderful it was to be home.

The storm that I met was in the form of a burst Cerebral Aneurysm. I was found in my car where I had pulled over to the side of the road on the ramp to the highway, slumped over the wheel. Thank God I never made it to the highway or to home for that matter. The paramedics say when they arrived on the scene I was talking and appeared okay, but a decision was made to take me to the ER all the same. En route to the hospital I began to decompensate rapidly, having a seizure. Due to the snowstorm the ambulance was unable to make it up a hill to take me to the hospital of preference for my health insurance and the ambulance backed down the hill to University Hospital Emergency Room. This was a stroke of luck or Divine intervention (I believe it was Divine intervention) as Dr. Gerard Rodziewicz was the neurosurgeon at University Hospital. I could not have asked for a better Neurosurgeon than he and I thank God every day for him.

In the emergency room I presented unresponsive and was incubated and a CT scan of my head was obtained which showed a subarachnoid hemorrhage, Grade I. Two angiograms later they had located the aneurysm on the right posterior communicating artery. Within 24 hours my family had been notified and I was in surgery to clip the aneurysm and place a ventriculostomy catheter to help with monitoring pressure in the brain and vasospasms. I have been told the surgery took about 7-8 hours and the surgery was complicated by the rupture of the aneurysm and I lost about 500cc of blood. My family was there and worried even after the surgery when I woke up I was very confused and for three weeks the confusion persisted, to this day I have no recollection of that three weeks. That three weeks is lost to me forever, I think the mind has wonderful protection mechanisms. I spent three weeks in the Neuro ICU and my family and friends were there for me and tell me now that I had many tubes in my body, the discharge summary showed that I had the ventriculostomy, a lumbar drain, a Swan catheter and a central line along with a urinary catheter and an assortment of IV lines.

My mother flew in from Nevada to post vigil over me, my brother who lives locally was wonderful and he was named as my health care proxy as he and I have had many discussions about what our wishes would be in a situation like this. I am a Registered Nurse and my brother is not familiar with health care and told the surgeon that "she always explains these things to me" and the surgeon was good enough to break it down for my brother so he could make an informed decision. I know my brother was very concerned he had made the wrong decision when I was so confused for so long, he knew I would not want to be disabled especially of the mind. He made the best decision he could have. One thing I have learned is that although my life was altered significantly this didn't just happen to me, it happened to my family and friends as well.

After my three weeks in Neuro ICU I was transferred to the rehabilitation unit, where I discovered that my head had been shaved, I had hair down to my waist, I wasn't too happy about that. I was on the rehab unit for five weeks of rigorous physical and occupational therapy. There were concerns about my safety as it was determined I was "impulsive and highly distractible." These are characteristics that do not vary much from my personality prior to the aneurysm. But all the same being a single woman of 40 who lived alone it was also determined I would be unable to go home by myself and it was decided without my input I would leave the hospital in the care of my older brother and his family in another state. I was there for 45 days before I was given the okay to return home.

I have spent the summer and fall of 1998 recovering and arguing with my insurance company about coverage (that was my cognitive therapy). I returned to University Hospital on 10/30/98 for the follow-up surgery to replace the bone flap that was removed in the first surgery. I was admitted on Friday and was home on Sunday by 2:00 p.m. I was evaluated for return to driving the week after that surgery and it was deemed I would be safe to drive and I was approved to return to work. I received the official word on driving from the Department of Motor Vehicles on 11/30/98 and returned to work on 12/01/98. These were the two items have signified the return to my life as I knew it before the aneurysm.

I must mention the support I have received from my family, friends and co-workers. I am very fortunate in that regard, they have all put themselves out to be sure that I was taken care of properly while I was in the hospital and after I was discharged. My co-workers donated leave to me so I would have pay during all of this. My friends make sure I got out on a regular basis and my family make sure I have what I need. All of them have made it their business to make sure I have had love and support throughout this ordeal. I have hundreds of cards from people wishing me well from my time in the hospital, how could I have not gotten better with all of the support I received. My belief in God and humanity has been reaffirmed, I have always believed in both and to see it happen is such a wonderful thing.

With all of the research I have done regarding Aneurysms it seems I was very fortunate to recover with no deficits. I have been able to contact numerous support systems on-line that have helped tremendously. This has not been an easy time but at least I have lived to write about it. I am grateful to be alive and doing as well as I am, when I wake up in the morning I now thank God for the day to come. I will be driving in many more storms this winter I am sure none as severe as the one I drove into on February 24, 1998.

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED ME AND PRAYED FOR ME DURING THIS TIME AND MOST OF ALL I THANK GOD.

Frances Carmen