AnneEA1965

Hi I am female. I was 43 when I had my SAH but not sure which artery it was but have had another one coiled following SAH. The one for the SAH was left ACOM but not sure about the other one. Anne

For a long time I wasnt able to give blood because of anaemia. I finally got that sorted out and then this happens, Blood donors rang me back yesterday. Apparently they have strict guidelines to follow for the safety of both the donor and the recipient and it is apparently in case they take blood one day and I have another event soon after - I would then need that blood. They did say that it is not because there is anything wrong with my blood - its just in case I am ill again and need it. Still gutted!!!!

Hello all I went in as planned on 4th January to have another aneurysm coiled. I went to theatre at about 9.15 and the first thing I said when I woke up was "what time is it". I was still in the radiology theatre and it was 12.45. I was returned to HDU and the consultant came to see me where I was sitting reading a book. He said he could see i was feeling okay and that as long as i didnt have any setbacks I could go home the next day (which I was delighted about). They moved me from HDU to an ordinary ward at 1.30am and I went home at about 12 midday. It was nothing like the one I had with the bleed as I had suffered vasospasm and was on HDU for 2 weeks then an ordinary ward for a week and a half. I was really sleepy tired when I came home (but at least I could sleep). I am going back to work on 24th February on a phased return and can't wait. I have a cognitive therapy appt on 5th Feb and an Endovascular clinic appt on 22nd April. When I was in in October they told me i would have a scan around march time but I havent received an appointment for that - but I am on the case and chasing them up (but still AGAIN waiting for them to ring me back) Hope everything goes as well for everyone as it did for me. Anne

Thanks for the link Karen - I had already looked at that and it wasnt much help - just said something about post surgery. They did speak to a doctor when I rang to ask cos all i was asking was when it would be possible to and they just said you won't be able to give blood again. GUTTED!!!!

Thanks everyone - I have an appointment at the hospital in April so will ask then. A friend who works with brain injuries said it was because of the surgery. Apparently after any surgery the blood thins and it takes longer to screen. As blood has a short shelf life anyway by the time it got through the screening process it would not have a long enough shelf life to make it worth the effort. Bit strange I think. I will just ask the consultant or my GP.

I had a SAH on 8th October, 2009. I had been to work, picked up my little boy from his afterschool care group on the way home and was sitting sorting odd socks would you believe. I can't remember picking him up and said a few weeks later I was just glad that none of the kids were at home when it happened - at which point someone mentioned that James was in the house. My eldest daughter who was 20 was on her way home from work - her dad rang her and asked her where she was and told her to hurry up as he had just rang an ambulance for me - at which point she ran from our local metro station and was there within minutes. My second daughter was at the cinema with her friends and my third daughter was at her dance class. Anyway, as I said, I was sitting on the end of the settee going through the odd sock bag when I had the most horrendous headache. It was like nothing I have ever experienced before. I shouted for my husband to come and see me and he just said "I cant come I am busy". I told him that I didnt care what he was doing as I had the most horrendous headache and I was frightened I was going to have a brain haemorrhage - not really thinking that I would but it was the only thing I could attribute that much pain to. He came through and I just said I am sure if I can just get upstairs and lie on the bed I will be fine. I stood up and he stood up to support me and try to get me up the stairs but I just fell to the floor. He managed to get me back onto the settee and from then on it is all a bit of a blur. He asked me did I want him to call an ambulance and up til that point I insisted I didn't want him to 'cos I didn't want to waste their time. I then started vomiting and knew something was seriously wrong and i just told him to ring for an ambulance. An ambulance car came first and apparently I seemed to go into some sort of trance like state - I couldnt (or wouldnt) talk, my eyes were rolling back in my head and David and Nicola both just said it was really scary. The ambulance girl from the car rang for a proper ambulance but i think she gave me some drugs by injection - but I really cant remember. The proper ambulance came and took me to our local hospital (where I work) and all I can remember is being pushed to the x-ray department and then going into the CT scanner. Apparently i was there for a couple of hours (at that hospital not in the CT scanner) and then I was transferred to the Regional Neurosciences Centre at Newcastle General Hospital and taken to an ordinary ward. I have no recollection of any of this and apparently I had coiling embolisation surgery the next morning. The Consultant rang my husband and asked for consent as they had just done an angiogram and I was in the theatre where they would do it so rather than wait for him they took his consent verbally. I was then taken to HDU (this was Friday) and was moved to an ordinary ward on either the Sunday night or the Monday morning. Following that, I apparently suffered vasospasm and couldn't talk or move down one side. They could tell that I wanted to talk by my eyes but nothing would come out. I was transferred back to HDU where I spent the next week but I think I must have been totally out of it cos I just cant remember anything. Apparently though one of my friends came to see me and she asked me if I wanted her to talk to me. I asked her did she have anything interesting to say and she said well not really so I told her not to bother!!!! I think I have lost my tact and diplomacy!!! After the vasospasm i had to be taken back to theatre for them to do something or other (not sure what). I can remember waking up in the x-ray room and looking around but wasn't really sure where I was. I spent the next week on HDU but cant really remember anything about it - apparently my daughter was feeding me a salad (closest she has ever come to vegetables) and I was irritated cos she wasn't feeding me it quick enough (I do eat very fast) but I cant remember this either (big shock). When I went back to the normal ward I had to be put into a cubicle as I had diarrhoea (which was not pleasant when they came to clean it up) and I spent about 4 days in there. While there physio came and got me up to go for a walk. I remember walking along the corridor and I must have sensed that David was behind me. I turned round and he said "well come back to me Linford (as in Christie) and I fell over. They had to bring my bed to me and use a hoist to get me up. I spent the rest of the day on oxygen!! I then moved back to the normal part of the ward - where I was the fittest person!!!! I did think I could do more than I should so in the middle of one night i needed the toilet. Instead of ringing for the nurse or a commode I decided I would walk to the toilet. I fell over again (but it was midnight and the staff didnt see me) but I went to pull myself up on a linen trolley. One of the other patients on the ward said "Dont pull yourself up on that cos it has wheels on it". I crawled over to the ward sink and pulled myself up on that instead and then walked to the toilet. On the Monday the Consultant came to see me and said as far as he was concerned i could go home - but he would have to check with the ward staff who just said - no way - she isn't mobile enough. I finally got out on the Friday. I have always been a very independent person and it is driving me mad how much my husband wont let me do. I am not allowed to drive and feel like my independence has been taken away from me. I feel so bored and frustrated. I am desperate to get back to work and was planning on going back at the beginning of January but I have to go back in on 4th January for further surgery as there is an unruptured aneurysm apparently. I am not looking forward to it but dont thinkI could cope if I had to go through the headache that I had last time. Once that is over it is the start of the rest of my life and it has to be better than the last 10 years - cos it certainly couldnt get any worse. Hopefully I will be back at work at the beginning of February.

I am going in on 4th January 2010 for coiling of an unburst aneurysm. I am starting to feel a bit nervous and worried that i am going to have the same long haul as i had following the last coiling. I was told after coiling I wouldn't be allowed to drive so have surrendered my licence and it feels like I have lost all of my independence. Any info would be very much appreciated. Anne