KerryS

Hi Jess Im in Wolverhampton too. I'm still in same house and same job although cut down on my hours. This September on the 1st anniversary of Bertha (name given to my sah) we are having a birthday party at work. Strange I know but my way of celebrating life ? Kerry

Hi Gemma Thank you so much for sharing your story. You seem to have made amazing progress as I know how hard it is working in school (I used to be a finance manager in a primary school before I re trained and I find his job much easier and not as stressful strangely). I have a list of questions to ask my specialist when I go and see him and hopefully he can shed some light on what's possibly happening and a way forward. I shall certainly keep you posted. Kerry -X-

I think your right Greg . Sometimes it is funny when you either say the wrong word or can't remember the word and your standing there trying to describe it. As I said before I'm a chef and very often I'll ask one of my other chefs to prep something and for the life of me I can't remember the name of it and I'll stand there describing the item. Have you ever tried to describe butternut squash !!! It's not easy lol. But equally it is frustrating if I'm talking to a customer and I can't think what something on my menu is called. As I've said in other posts I think I came through this hiccup fairly easily. I went back to work after 6 weeks much to the disgust of family and friends and the amazement of my GP but I needed some normality in my life and I was driving again after 8 weeks. The daily headaches were always going to be there so why not just get on with it. Yes I'm exhausted a lot of the time and memory is pretty awful but I survived. I have amazing family, friends and work colleagues so why not do what I can when I can. As they say your a long time dead and I'm not ready for that yet. Hopefully the results of my 6month MRI scan is all clear and no issues as I've heard some people have had problems with coiling and having to have further coiling (hopefully that won't be me) and then it's into the next milestone the first anniversary of my bleed (which is nicknamed Bertha at work) and hopefully that will pass with no repeat performance lol. I'm so glad I found this website because no matter how much you can talk to your loved ones, I think unless you've been through it, you can't say the usual 'I know how you feel' because as much as they want to mean it they can't and talking to people on here you know they mean it when they say those words. Thank you all Kerry

Thank you all so much for the comments. It's made me feel a lot better that it's probably normal. Yes I've been more tired lately and I've had an awful cough for about 4 weeks so maybe that's what's causing all my problems. Claudette I'll take a look at that documentary thank you for telling me. I'll keep you all posted as to my progress. Kerry -X-

Hi I have posted my story on here before. I had a SAH last September and came out of it relatively unscathed or so I thought. Recently I have had increasing problems with memory, mixing words up and not knowing the name for basic every day items and not being able to remember people's names. My mood swings are erratic some days and other days normal. I work as a chef and he menu I work to is my menu so I know it inside out but the last few weeks and the last few days in particular I have got orders wrong, I've not done what's on the ticket despite reading the ticket at least half a dozen times. My work colleagues have noticed the last few weeks how confused I've got and asked if everything is ok. To be honest I don't know. Is this normal, should I be worried. I've had my 6 month MRI scan at the beginning of March and I'm just waiting now for results. My theory is if anything showed up on there id be back sooner rather than later. I still get daily headaches and some days are worse than others. My only concern is (and I apologise if I sound a little crazy or stupid) but once you have had a bleed are you more prone to things like dementia or Alzheimer's ? I really don't know. Any feedback would be helpful. Kerry

Hi My symptoms were 1. Feeling like I'd been hit round the back of the head 2. Feeling generally unwell 3. Neck went stiff 4. Hearing went 5. Was sick 6. Then unconscious The first 4 happened very quickly within a few minutes the other 2 came about an hour later. Kerry

Thanks Tina . It was such a shock to get a decision so quickly from them so credit where credits due 'Well done DVLA' for once lol. Kerry

Good news for a change. Had my letter today from DVLA and I can keep my license. Only been just over 2 weeks since their last letter so I'm pleased it didn't take the minimum of 9 they stated. Kerry

Thanks for all your lovely comments. This site is amazing and was such a help in the early days. It was good to read other people's stories and accounts of what they went through and I know without a shadow of a doubt I'm one of the lucky ones. It's nice that we can share our good times and bad times and know that whoever reads it will know exactly how we feel and not dismiss even the slightest worry that we may have about our recovery . Thank you all Kerry X

Hi my name is Kerry I'm 48 have 3 children and had my SAH last September 4 days after my birthday. I found this website a few days after leaving hospital and found the topics and discussions immensely helpful. My day started as normal, I work as a head chef at a very busy cafe and after an immensely busy summer and a particularly busy Saturday I was looking forward to it slowing down a bit. I came home and ran myself a bath while my husband ordered a takeaway as I didn't feel like cooking. I bent down to pick up something off the floor and that was it . I felt like I had been hit around the back of the head by a bat. The pain in my head and neck was incredible . I have a high pain threshold and went into my husband crying telling him I had the most horrendous headache ever and I couldn't move my neck. Fortunately for me he is medically trained and knew straight away what the symptoms meant and phoned an ambulance. They were there in minutes and took me to our local hospital in Wolverhampton where I had a CT scan within 15 minutes. After that I have to rely on what my husband told me because although I was awake I don't remember anything until a week later. I was immediately transferred to a specialist hospital in Birmingham where my husband tells me a surgeon was waiting at the door to take me for another CT scan and assess what they were going to do. It was at the point of getting to the hospital I went unconscious and couldn't be woken. The surgeon suggested that my husband call family in to come and see me before being taken to theatre because he couldn't guarantee he could wake me up after the operation and was only giving me 20% chance of survival . So in came my family to evidently say goodbye. Thankfully I had an amazing surgeon and he coiled my bleed and saved my life and I have to say the bleed has left me with very little side affects. I had daily lumbar punctures to relieve pressure on my head to avoid fitting a shunt and thankfully after several days of those they declared it had worked. Like everyone else I was on an endless list of tablets, the headaches were horrendous for at least a month after but amazingly I went back to work 6 weeks post bleed. That was my way of recovering . I only work 4 days a week now instead of the usual 6 or even sometimes 7 and at home I take it easy and rest when I know I've done too much. I felt going back to work was my way of coping with what had happened and I'm very lucky to have an understanding boss and amazing work colleagues who helped me through this process. It took me several weeks to realise how lucky I had been and how close I came to death but I know if I think about it I'll sink into depression and I won't let this bleed do anymore damage than what it's already done. My memory is dreadful I have to ask several times about something before it sinks in but luckily it hasn't affected my work. I still get daily headaches but they are manageable and evidently I could always have them so I may as well get on with life. One thing that I think is worth recognising is how it affects those around you. My husband is constantly worried about me and hates me going out on my own but you have to just get in with life don't you. I hadn't realised until a few months later how badly it had affected him and try to be respectful of this and how helpless it made him feel. I'm just so grateful he was there when it happened as I may have just taken painkillers and gone to bed and never woken up! Scary thought. Sorry this is so long I just wanted to tell my story . One thing I want to say is I didn't drive for the first 2 months because I thought I couldn't . I rang the DVLA and they told me because my license hadn't had to be surrendered and that it was only a notifiable condition like a stroke that if my own GP said I was fit to drive while they carried out their own investigation then I could. As you can imagine I immediately went to see my own GP who was amazed I had gone back to work so early, she did a thorough examination and declared as far as she was concerned I was fit and safe to drive. I've now been driving nearly 2 months and today I've had a letter off DVLA telling me they have had a reply from my surgeon and it will take them another 9 weeks at least to look at the report. I'm so glad I rang DVLA initially and asked otherwise my car would still be sitting on the drive doing nothing. I know that if you have a shunt fitted then the rules are different mine was coiling . It's given me back my freedom and some normality in life. To all those who are still suffering (and I do quite regularly ) it does get better and I know when I go for my 6 month pre coiling assessment in March that everything will be ok. The power of positive thinking Kerry