15 September 2004
On December 7, 2002, I was riding my horse in preparation for a horse show the next morning when all of a sudden I felt like I was going to pass out. I remember trying to slow the horse down and then I remember waking up on the ground in the dirt. I was terrified! When I woke up the first thing that I thought was that I was probably paralyzed. And, I knew something was really wrong. I am a healthly 34 year old, who teaches aerobics, runs, swims and works out on a regular basis.
Thank God I was surrounded by fantastic people. I had experienced a seizure and stopped breathing. My trainer did CPR on me and got me breathing again. My head and neck were killing me. I was actually lucky that I didn’t break my neck falling off the horse, but I had my helmet on and only ended up fracturing my skull.
I could hear everyone trying to get me to open my eyes and I heard them telling me that the life flight was almost there. I was so scared, especially when I heard the word life flight. I also remember, checking to make sure that I could think clearly and I could so I wasn’t sure what was wrong.
When I got to the emergency room everyone was just saying that I had fallen off the horse and landed on my head. But, I knew that I had passed out. Then, I started to vomit violently. A few hours later, they diagnosed me with a brain aneurysm and immediately drugged me up.
I was very, very lucky. I was a candidate for the coil procedure and spent about 8 days in ICU with no complications. However, I will tell you that it was truly a miserable and scary feeling to have something like this happen – especially being young and active. I kept thinking I can’t believe this happened to me – this is the kind of thing I only hear about on the news!
I guess the most important part of my story is that I want survivors to feel like they can communicate with me anytime regarding their experience. I know that probably the most difficult part of the process is healing and just having someone who has EXPERIENCED the same thing. Healing for me was not easy. Once I came off all the drugs, I had my first ever panic attack. It was so scary and my anxiety was horrible. I was lucky to find a great psychologist who was able to help. My neurosurgeon, although good, was not into helping me with my emotions.
I got plenty of rest and I immediately went back to exercising (lightly) and building my strength. Yoga has probably been the best part of my recovery. And, lots of vitamins! I went back to work after 6 weeks and it was hard. I have a very stressful job and I was scared! But, I feel very good now and I can’t believe I even had an aneurysm three months ago! If anyone has any questions or wants a friend to talk with,I am here!
Update: 15 September 2004
I wanted to thank everyone for their responses several weeks ago when I was seeking information regarding coiling follow up. At the same time, I wanted to share my results and, what I think to be, pertinent information.
First, I am very lucky to have Dr. Thomas Grobelny, who was featured in Newsweek and on Peter Jennings Evening News, perform my coiling and all my angiograms, he is incredible and Kansas City is lucky to have him! I had my angiogram and everything turned out to look good.
I finally, after almost two years, had follow up with my neurosurgeon, Dr. Camarata, who ended up being surprisingly nice ( I usually can’t talk to him because of his “Nazi” nurse — at least that is how I describe her). He told me that if you tolerate the coil after the first 18 months, you are pretty much in the clear (of course, no one bothered to tell me that–probably better if I didn’t know. He DID NOT recommend any follow up angiograms past this mark. He said that was it and that I should live my life. He said if I wanted to have it checked to wait until angiograms got much more user friendly.
Although my anxiety and fear feels better, I always have it in the back of my mind…no matter what doctor tells me. I am glad to be here and appreciate the family!
Update: 22 August 2006
It has been almost four years since I had a subarachnoid hemorrhage that was treated with coil. I was very, very lucky to survive and have really, no deficits. I was also blessed to have a very talented doctor. The frustration I have is the lack of follow-up with patients who appear to be normal after the procedure.
I continued to be shocked that I am not a case study or that I am not monitored in some capacity. Wouldn’t doctors want to track a patient who had a successful coiling? I did have two angiograms following the last two years of my procedure and was told that I was “good to go” – no follow-up was necessary. Again, I had really good doctors so I can’t really argue with them.
Additionally, there does appear to not really be a lot of documentation regarding follow-up treatments after successful coilings. I rarely hear or see anything from individuals that are doing fine after the procedure so it is hard for me to gauge. I have asked this question to the family before, however, even more time has passed and I often and still think about others after care and wonder if it is different or that maybe I am just obsessed!
Because I am concerned, I have set up an appt. with my neurosurgeon on Thursday to ask him the same questions – although, I think him and my husband think I have lost my mind. The doctor simply says I am fine and my husband tells me I don’t listen to the doctor! I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has no complications from a coiling and what your follow-up treatment, if any, was or is.
