KenCanadian's Story

Hi everyone. My name is Ken. I'm 49 years old, and on October 19, 2013 I had left work early as usual for a Wednesday to make my way down town for night school. Night school courses for me are more like "recreational education" and I've taken courses in Mandarin, Interior Design, Manufacturing Supervision, and have gotten TEFL certificate to teach English overseas.

Anyway, as always, I was in a rush, and arriving home, I hopped into the shower. As I was rinsing off, I felt a huge pressure begin to build in the back of my neck. It last for about 20 seconds, then I felt it release, and the pain began.

It was the most pain I have ever felt, and having had ruptured discs in my back, I had my share of intense pain. I was able to make it into the living room, and called my lovely wife Ying, who was on her way to give my a lift to school. She was about ten minutes away.

My tenant downstairs heard my distress, and called the ambulance. This made all the difference. Moments after calling her, I was vomiting, and unable to move.

The paramedics got me into the ambulance, and to the hospital about ten blocks from my home. I have very little memory of that hospital although I was there for several hours before being transferred to another hospital that deals with brain trauma.

Once there, I was isolated and literally kept in a dark room for two weeks. At this hospital they told me that I had suffered a massive subarachnoid hemorrhage.

My nurses were all wonderful, and in two weeks I was able to stand and begin to move about a little. At that point, I was sent home, and with my wife at work, I set about finding out what had happened. To say that I was shocked at the statistics concerning SAH would be an understatement.

What was even more shocking was my appointment with my GP yesterday, Dec 6 2013. She came out and called my name, and as I passed her, she said "I'm so happy to see you. I'm just amazed that you are alive." Three times in that visit, she reiterated that same statement. She said that she had looked through all the material and CT scans that the other doctors had sent her, and was shocked to see that I'm walking and even driving again.

I know I should be happy to be alive, and believe me, I am overjoyed to be alive, but part of me knows that much better people than I have died from this. The emotions I keep experiencing are quite new to me. I find it very difficult to talk with anyone about this, and felt that, perhaps if I could find others who have gone through this, there would be a common frame of reference and it would be easier to discuss. Sorry for long-winded story here.