I am a little surprised it has been twenty years since I heard the words “you have a brain aneurysm” in the ER at Augusta’s Maine General Hospital. Wow, how time has flown by. And yet, I remember it like it was yesterday.
I suppose it’s lucky I DO remember. I remember feeling that awful sudden headache that everyone talks about. I didn’t know what it was though. It was so sudden and odd. It wasn’t a migraine, which I had suffered from since 1976. At 4:30 in the morning, right after I got up to use the bathroom. When I put my head back down on the pillow, it hit. BAM! That’s exactly the moment it happened. I’m one of the “lucky” ones that I remember that morning. Many don’t.
I thought I was having a heart attack because my heart rate was skyrocketing and I was starting to sweat profusely. Not being able to walk right was also a concern, but I still felt it was my heart.
It wasn’t until I woke my then boyfriend, now my husband, that I realized it was something very different and something I had never experienced before. Both arms going numb while he was calling 911 was something new.
I have learned over the last 20 years that not everyone experiences that sudden headache. The majority do, but it’s not a given. Brain aneurysms don’t care. They can burst whether you’re rich or poor, black or white, republican or democrat, or young or old.
The last twenty years have taught me that every walk of life can be affected by this silent killer and that is why we work so hard to share my story, and others, with the general public. Don’t ignore that strange headache. Don’t ignore that disturbance in your eyes. Don’t ignore that dizziness you have experienced for days. Go to the doctor. Insist on an MRA. Get answers.
As I mark my 20th year of surviving a ruptured brain aneurysm, I am grateful for many, many things.
I am grateful for:
- The ER doctor in Augusta, Maine who was walking out after the end of his shift at 5am as we were walking in and walked us to the CT scan that showed my rupture.
- The intervention radiologist who cut his vacation short at Maine Medical Center to come in and perform the coiling procedure that saved my life the following day. (16 coils)
- My sister Dori, who flew in to Maine from New York to be by my side and to comfort my husband. Sadly, in 2012, she succumbed to a ruptured brain aneurysm herself.
- My boyfriend, now husband, who didn’t know about brain aneurysms, but educated himself immediately, and sadly had to bury his 32-year old neice Kim two years later from a ruptured brain aneurysm.
- My current doctor at Maine Medical Center, for picking up the messy pieces from 2006 and working his hardest to keep me alive and kicking with additional coils and two stents.
I was one of the lucky ones to survive without major deficits. I have also been fortunate to meet so many incredible survivors the last twenty years who have inspired and encouraged me. I have also met with the families and loved ones of those who have lost someone to brain aneurysms. Sadly, we share the same grief and sadness of losing a loved one to this sudden, cruel disease.
I continue to share my story in the hopes it gives hope to those who have are currently suffering or have been diagnosed, but I also share the grief with those who have lost a love one.
I am bless to still be here.
