Gail's Story

I was working out at the health club in a class doing push-ups when it hit. I think I felt a pop and then pain. I left my class and put my sweats on. I walked to my car feeling worse and worse all the time, got in and called my husband. Not sure what was happening, I drove to my parents' house only a few blocks away. By the time I got there, I was feeling the pulsation in my head and the nausea was setting in. My husband had called my parents and they were outside by the time I got there.

They took one look at me and called the ambulance. I didn't think I could move. When the ambulance arrived, they said, "You probably just pulled something in your neck when you were working out." I said, no, I think this is something vascular. My head hurts a lot. They took me to the closest hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital, even with these typical SAH symptoms, it took an hour of waiting and shaking like a leaf before I saw a doctor. He immediately ordered a CT scan and they saw the bleed. I was rushed to another hospital.

I don't remember most of the first week in the ICU and after 2 angiograms, they never found the source of the bleed. I moved to the neuro floor for another week and then was sent home. That was 6 years ago. My memory has been affected and i have chronic headaches, but I am so happy to be alive and to have minimal lasting effects -- and to have found this group!