Renfield

Hi Brian. Your circumstances are amazingly close to mine in almost every detail. If that's any comfort. I am retired and so returning to work is not an issue for me. Driving however is, and like you, I am only a very short period into my SAH experience. (a few weeks or so). In fact I may have been coming in the door as you were going out. I too was in the WN Hospital. My after effects seem very light compared to many of the people who are members here. I am hoping that I will be able to drive very soon as a delay, long or short, is a matter of great concern to me. On the plus side we can say that in the grand scheme of things, things could be very much worse. I wish you a fast & smooth recovery.

It seems to me that there may be many reasons why your husband would go back to a hard physical job at such an early stage after his recovery. I would think that many of such reasons may not be good ones. It might be difficult for him to spell them out to you and I think Macca's advice is well spoken. That it would be good for you both to talk about your feelings thoroughly. That's often difficult for men to do. If he actually spelled out his reasons, concerns and view of his situation, what he tells you may come as a big surprise. He might be completely "off the ball" or again, seeing things from his viewpoint, you might agree that in a bad situation, his route may be the least bad option. It may be however that if he listens to any insights you have after discussion, he will gain more understanding of things he hasn't realised regarding his own condition AND that of his wife's. Sorry for the "agony aunt" two cents. It's just that in my experience I have often been surprised at how people who believe they know and understand each others viewpoints, can turn out to be completely wrong because they never actually talked about them in detail.

Well Skippy. Motorcycle touring is such a large part of my life it's difficult to imagine giving it up. I also love to drive. Not being able to until given the all clear by my DVLA equivalent is a real nuisance and also a cause for concern. It's kind of a case of not realising how much you'd miss it until it is taken away. In the grand scheme of things you might say that its fairly trivial, but who can live only looking at the Grand Scheme? Real people mostly look at the little things which are close up.

Thanks to all. Subzero is quite correct in what he says. (BTW Happy St Andrews day). I feel a little like a fraud at present as I think I am more fortunate than many that may be members of this group. I do have the luxury of recovering at my own pace without the pressures of work and dependants to weigh down on me. We shall see how things progress however. The show isn't over till the Fat Lady sings eh ?

It may well be that I have had it fairly easy so far. It's early days as yet though I suppose. In 4 weeks I have another scan. Perhaps everything will look fine. Perhaps they will find problems and have to operate on me again. Who knows. I live on an Island and so I have to travel to the UK by air to attend the Neurological hospital. The thought of travelling seems a lot of trouble and makes me tired just to think of it. What else...it's a little difficult for me to eat as when they cut my scalp they cut through some of the muscles that drive my jaw, apparently. I can't open my mouth very far without some pain. I have read that this is fairly typical and will improve with healing. I love to drive and to motorcycle. I am worried that I will not be able to drive for a long time. I hope this will not be the case. Perhaps my case is relatively straight forward and I will be allowed to drive soon. Not being able to drive makes life very difficult. I live alone Skippy and I am retired. However I have family and belong to clubs so I am in the fortunate position of not being isolated. Thanks for both of your early responses.

Hello everyone. I am a 55 year old male. Non-smoker all my life with a late developed asthma, (49 years old), as the only real medical problem I have ever had. It has been 6 weeks since my SAH. I spent 3 weeks in hospital and I have been out now for 3 weeks recovering at home. The consultant advised me that my bleed came from a vessel that was shaped in a fashion not conducive to being treated with coiling/embolisation. He therefore fitted a clip which has hopefully sealed off the weakened area of the vessel. It's a shame that things could not have been treated using a coil and via Angioplasty. Like many of you, I had my scalp cut from the middle of my forehead, along the (receding) hairline, and curving down to just in front of my right ear. The scar traces a kind of semicircle and where it travels down onto the side of my face, it becomes quite thick and noticeable. Being male, I guess I'm fortunate that it is partially concealed by my side-burn. Like most of you I expect, before it happened to me, I knew little or nothing about such conditions. My experience was lying in bed on a Sunday morning, raising my arms over my head and stretching and arching my back slightly, I felt an explosion of pain at the base of my skull. I stayed largely in bed for the next 4 days hoping that things would get better. I was experiencing, headache, neck pain and stiffness, zero appetite, occasional nausea, light sensitivity. All the usual things as I have subsequently discovered.Finally, I called an ambulance and was taken to hospital. I had not improved in the 4 days I had been lying up, and so decided finally to get a medical opinion. Like most men, I have no great faith or liking in Doctors or hospitals. Women are far more sensible in such matters. Even then, the main reason I called for an ambulance was only because a fall I had had 8 days before made me wonder if perhaps the pain was a delayed effect and maybe I had a cracked vertebra or something like it. I realise that I must have been in denial, as I couldn't really bring myself to believe there was anything seriously wrong with me. When my local hospital advised me they were sending me to a specialist Neurological hospital, this was regarded by me with a large amount of anger and annoyance. When I had arrived and been assessed by the hospital, then told they were actually going to have to cut open my scalp, cut a square out of my skull and operate on my brain, my anger only increased. Could this really be happening to me ? Could things really be this serious? Well...most of you know I guess. I can hardly be unique in my thoughts and emotions. I spent the next 3 weeks in hospital, mainly pushing for them to release me back home. I am not a good patient. I was almost at the stage of discharging myself and making my way home. I had never spent time in hospital before. Life in a ward is constant disturbance, lack of privacy and general powerlessness. A private room is quieter, there is less disturbance, but the experience soon turns into a type of solitary confinement. Its almost a toss-up which is the worse. They are both bad in different ways. Fortunately for me, they agreed that I could go home after 3 weeks. Many people may have had to stay in hospital for longer periods I expect. For me, that would have been positively hellish. Six weeks later, there is now only one small scab left on my forehead. The scar-line is clear but where it travels onto the top of my face it develops into a kind of welt. As I say, this is largely concealed by my sideburn. I am more conscious of the scar than I thought I would be. I have never thought of myself as overly concerned with vanity, but I have not gone out of my house without covering my head with a hat of some sort. Baseball cap or woollen hat. I don't experience much in the way of pain. The scar where it reaches my face tingles quite often. I have regular pain behind my right eye and discomfort on the area of my skull that was effected by the surgery. I rarely have to resort to any kind of pain relief fortunately. When I do it's simply a couple of paracetamols. I am not noticing any difficulties mentally. If anything my short term memory seems better that it was before. My speech is not slurred and I have no difficulty in conversation. I am convinced that anyone who knows me, would not notice any difference conversing with me on the telephone now and before my SAH. I don't want to do anything much. I limit myself to small amounts of housework, domestic items and correspondence or financial chores each day. I will do perhaps 3 such items in a day broken up by reading and sitting down and resting. Concentrating can be an effort and I am only wishing to watch TV programs of 30 minutes or an hours duration. The thought of watching a film and concentrating on it for 90 minutes or 120 feels too much trouble. Reading, strangely, is totally different. A good book will engage me totally for prolonged periods without any difficulty or mental fatigue. Regular sleep patterns are totally disrupted. I basically just sleep when I am able, normally only succeeding at about 7 in the morning to 11 or so. I lie in bed and rest a fair amount but normally resort to listening to the radio or other audio files as sleep doesn't come. I don't want to see friends or family particularly at the moment. I don't think I am turning into a recluse but I feel like I don't want to go to the trouble of having people around and conversing with them. When I got home from hospital, the 3 weeks I had spent in there had weakened my leg muscles considerably. I felt unsteady and weak. I had lost about 1 & 1/2 stone in weight. Now I am able to walk about the house fairly normally and will start to go for outside walks, weather permitting, any day now. I will start of with short distances and work my self up to a 3 mile local route on the flat. I worry about future possible occurrences. I worry about how my lifestyle may need to change and also I have a heightened sense of my own mortality. I expect this is normal. Not just for SAH sufferers but for anyone who experiences a major medical problem. Well that's enough of an introduction for now. Hope to talk to some of you later and possibly to exchange experiences and maybe give and receive some insights.