Hi,
My name is Carly. I've finally taken the plunge to introduce myself after looking at the stories on the site for a few months. I just wish I had found the site site sooner when I was first recovering from my SAH, it would have been a great help in those early days.
Last July I had a Subarachnoid Haemorrhage which resulted in having to have an aneurysm coiled. I had just seen my daughter into her school prom, which anyone that has a teenage daughter will know takes about 2 years preparation , when I had a terrible headache which I just knew was not right. My son drove me to our local hospital and after 6-7 hours and a CT scan, at another hospital as their one was not working, I was told that I had a small bleed and was sent to St Georges, Tooting. When all this was going on I did not want to ruin my daughters evening so had to keep it secret from her until the morning which was awful.
The next afternoon I was taken in for the coiling operation. I was awake but it was all so surreal me and my partner didn't have too much time to think about it and we had no option but to follow the consultants recommendations.
Anyway my recovery was very good and I was very lucky and discharged 1 week later. I managed to get back to work after 8 weeks (I am a part time administrator). Everyone was telling me not to rush it but I was determined to get my life back. In hindsight I probably was not ready and would tell anyone else not to rush it.
In my recovery I found walking a great help and built up from 1 mile to 3 miles a day. It really helped build the strength back up in my legs. I had terrible aching legs, bit like growing pains.
All was going great and I really felt my life was practically back to the way it was until I had my 6 month MRI in January. It came back showing that I had a very small regrowth at the neck of the aneurysm .
I was told that I needed an Angiogram to look at it in more detail, which I had done yesterday. I was lucky enough to speak to my Consultant afterwards who recommends that considering my age and health that I need to have a further operation . I have decided to have it clipped this time as I cannot risk being in this situation again if further coiling does not work. And as I understand if clipping is successful I will not even have to go back for further MRI's in the future.
I am very scared about this operation that will take place in July and still getting my head around the fact that I have to go through this again. He said that if I was older that I could carry on checking it year after year but the chances are that it will get larger and because I am quite nervous about it rupturing again it is the best thing for me.
I would love to hear from anyone who has had a similar experience.
Wow I wrote so much more than I thought I would, I really must have needed to write down my feelings. Friends and family are a brilliant support but I guess unless you've actually been through it you cannot fully understand the way it makes you feel.
Lots of love,
Carlyx