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Joanna

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About Joanna

  • Birthday 04/11/1972

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Female

Converted

  • Location
    Japan
  • Occupation
    Secondary English Teacher
  • SAH/Stroke Date
    Nov 29 2013

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  1. Thanks so much for all the replies. I have 4 days to go and then 2 months break. Thinking about that has been the only way I have managed to survive these last few weeks of marking and report writing. Time to rest. Hope any of you other teachers in the Northern hemisphere will all be doing this soon too. Joanna
  2. Hi there We are down in Fukuoka on Kyushu island. Off for my 6 month angiogram on Thursday. Hopefully everything will be fine.....and the language won't be too much of a problem. Joanna
  3. Hi You don't know how relieved I was to find this thread. I was honestly worried I was having another bleed last Thursday. Then the next day I got my period.....I started to wonder if there was a bit of a pattern but of course no dr had said anything to me. Then I found this thread. I have gone from taking little or no painkillers back to taking the maximum I can take. The headaches lasted the whole period on and off. I also have very irregular periods. Sometimes I get the stomach cramps but no period. Any idea when these 'period headaches' might stop? Joanna
  4. Hi Another teacher here. I actually had an anuerysm burst in the middle of teaching...... I started back 3 and half months after my SAH. I am in an International School in Japan. I had been 7 years at my last school (in NZ) but only just started this job in August. Moving with my husband and 5 year old daughter to Japan was meant to be an adventure but 4 months after arriving here I was having emergency surgery. The school got in a temp and I have picked up my classes one by one. For the first month I just had my grade 11s. Then 2 weeks ago I picked up my grade 9s. Monday I pick up my grade 10s (luckily the 12s are leaving to to do their external exams). My headaches have come back but the kids have been really good and so has the school. My issue is with the odd colleague who: a) thinks I look 'fine' and wonder why I'm allowed to come and go during the day. I feel like shouting at them 'I'm still recovering and I'm only paid part time......I won't of course. I am also worried that when they do start paying me full time as of Monday they will expect me to do all the extra extra activities this school expects of us. We are also expected to stay on site 8-430 which never happened in my schools in NZ. They understood that teachers often work in the evenings and our days were slightly shorter. I'm wondering if I ask to be paid less so I CAN come and go a bit more (we live across the road from the school......) without feeling guilty. I know this thread was started a while ago but am wondering how any other teachers out there are going. Cheers Joanna
  5. Hi I also bought this book after reading about it here. I just read it in chunks too. But the best thing for me about it is that it has really helped my husband understand things a lot better. Several people at my work really didn't understand that even though I look fine now, I'm still recovering. He even explained it to a few of my male colleagues at drinks the other night. I'm back to half time and he told them I often have to go home and nap between classes. So, even if you're struggling to read this at the moment, give it to your partner or family. Joanna
  6. Hi It means 'you're ok' or 'you're going to be fine'. They were comforting me....that was all I could tell. That goes beyond language doesn't it? Joanna
  7. Hi all I was standing in front of my Grade 12 English class. New job in an IB international School in Japan. Had only been here 3 months after moving from NZ. I felt like someone had stabbed a knife through the top of my head and then a wicked headache came on. I carried on trying to teach for about 5 minutes then managed to make my way down to the office. Luckily, they took one look at me, called an ambulance and I was having a coil put in within hours. I remember the neurosurgeon leaning over me and saying something in Japanese. I asked my husband if he was the Japanese 'Monroe'. He assured me he was..... Joanna (a kiwi in Japan)
  8. Hi there I've just joined 'behind the gray'. Late November I was teaching my Grade 12s when I got a sudden, severe headache. I went to get painkillers and luckily one of the office staff realised I needed more than paracetamol. An ambulance was called, a CT scan was done and I was told I had a bleed on the brain as I was pulled out of the machine. I have to admit I had pretty much come to that conclusion myself. I then had to be transferred to another hospital where I needed immediate surgery. You all know the way I was feeling I am sure as my blood pressure was through the roof and my limbs were numb. I thought, "this is it....". But to make things that much more difficult we had only just moved to Japan (from New Zealand) in August. English is not widely spoken where we are and I had not really had a chance to learn much Japanese. 'Diajoubu' was said to me a lot by the doctors and nurses.... I was diagnosed with SAH caused by a ruptured aneurysm. The doctor explained (through a translator) to my husband that it was right in the middle of my brain so a coil was much safer option than trying to do a clip. He was also told all the other terrible statistics. Luckily, I came out of the surgery with little obvious damage. They said I would need to have spinal taps every day for a couple of weeks but in the end I only had to have them about 5 times. They decided to stop them for some reason. I did have severe headaches for a couple of weeks. The Japanese tend to dish out far less painkillers than Western doctors..... After a few weeks I had more MRIs and a catheter exam. This exam showed a remnant of the aneurysm that the coil was not covering. I've been home for about 2 months now and have had another MRI recently that seems to show that the remnant has gone but they won't know for sure until the next catheter exam. My eyesight is definitely worse. I have had to get glasses for computer work. I am also starting to realise that my short term memory has been affected. I still get headaches at times but I only take the painkillers now as needed. Anyway, so that's my story in brief. I would love to hear from anyone else who has gone through this in a non English speaking country. Although the medical staff have been lovely in both the hospitals I was in, it has been frustrating and difficult either making myself understood or understanding them. A lot of my questions went unanswered. Thanks for reading! Joanna
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