mark_wales

OK here goes - I'm thinking of writing a blog when our problem is all over- My wife's stroke May 2011, license sent back to DVLA June 2011, first eye test July 2011, failed field of vision (upper quadrant), appealed - 2nd field of vision test November 2011, then DVLA sent a letter asking my wife to apply for new license and send cheque for £15 (I think) - so all hopes were up, DVLA then refused on the basis of failed eye test, 3rd appeal - wife went to another hospital for a different field of vision test in May 2012, failed again. I now started to research the net on this and read about contacting my local MP as they have jurisdication with the DVLA, which they did and they were brilliant - trouble is DVLA wanted another test carried out. Then we started legal proceedings and the DVLA finally agreed for my wife to meet a specialist consultant in hospital who did a physical eye test and confirmed her vision was satisfactory. The onyl problem instructing a solictor is cost - if you take the DVLA to court you are looking at £5k - £6k in costs. And then a letter came through asking my wife to sign a declaration for a driving assessment to allow her to drive for 1 hour assisted by a driving instructor This is the last hurdle - fingers crossed it will happen soon. But - let's be honest - it's utter bs as how are you supposed to practise before the assessment? Asking somebody to go out on the road with a stranger in a car for 1 hour when you havent driven for nearly 2 years !!!!!! MAKES ME SO MAD !!!!!! The frustrating thing with the DVLA is they are so beurocratic - they have no escalation procedures, they do everything by post (no email) - wont speak to you on the phone and are driven by a load of private specialist dr's who are probably milking the system for a small fortune. If you look at the last minutes of their meeting it'll proably be something like August 2012 - they only meet every 6 months EVEN THOUGH THE DVLA STATE THEY WILL RESPOND TO LETTERS IN 6 WEEKS - IT IS UTTER Bull...... So, I know how you all feel - my wife is so p'd off with it all.

I'm having to bite my tongue as I'll be slagging off all the Dr's in the world but surely a massive headache is enought to raise alarm bells to these DRS???? My wife SAH burst when in Cyprus, A&E said she was drunk and spent too much time in the Sun...then we had a referral to a private hospital who ran an MRI scan and identified the SAH. From the time happeneing to me finding out what happened = 4 days

I've not been on here a while so catching up and just read your post. Your going through exactly what happened to my wife. Can I add, that what others write about "it takes time" - is very true, I was in your shoes 18 months ago looking for something postive after my wife had a SAH in Cyprus. She had her anerysym coiled in July last year and I could be biased but I'll be totally honest - her recovery has been remarkable - she was suffering with dizzyness for a few months when the stroke happened in 2011- this has now gone away completely, she also has a lot of her strength back. The only problem she has now is a frozen shoulder caused by weakenss from the stroke - which is being investigated by a specialist. If you were to meet her, or pass her by in the street you wouldnt even know she had a stroke - so please stay strong! What I will say if you dont mind is, try and stay off those antidepresants - IMO they dont work, they just mask the problem just like alcohol. Best thing to do is keep occupied, get out more often - take the kids for walks around the park. Or do what I did - but a dog to keep my wife occupied during her therapy - they are joined at the hip now - and it gets my wife out walking for a good hour everyday. By the way, my wife is 47.

My wife had a SAH back in 2011, the hospital also identified an Anerysm which was coiled back in July last year, she was given the all clear to fly to Spain in September last year - which we did and we have a wonderful time. My wife had no travel symptoms or headaches at all. Her travel insurance is with the bank and with the above declared didnt increase the premium - AND...the SAH happened in Cyprus in April 2011 and the same insurance company paid £60K ! for her to fly back by Airmed. We are insured with Axa by the way who have been brilliant. My advice would be to go somewhere mainland that has excellent hospitals...just for peace of mind, and somewhere that isnt a million miles away from the UK....just for peace of mind. This was the reason for us choosing Spain (Benalmadena) - as there are lots of good & private hopsitals in that vicinity and it's only a 2 hour flight. And we are also going to Egypt in March. Does that help?

Thanks! That's what I like to hear - and thank you to others above. We are hopefully going to Spain for a week in September - boy do we need it!

Can I ask for those that beat the DVLA and got your driving license back (UK only please as I know other countires have different rules) have you any field of vision problems such as a cluster shadow in your eyes? My wife is battling the DVLA over a cluster of 3-4 dots that she has in her upper left quadrants and twice she has taken the field of vision test and failed, she went again 4 weeks ago to a hospital for the test as the DVLA wanted a comparison from another machine, so my question is do you have the same problem and did you get your license back? My wife's problem has been going on since April 2011 so the DVLA should be considerate that the problem hasnt got worse and the fact that 12 months has passed. I've also escalated the problem to my local MP today who is also writing a letter to the DVLA - watch this space. I might even write a blog when this is all over fingers crossed. Thanks!

Thanks Goldfish - that's what I'll do - appreciate your response.

Just looking for some info please - if you've had a coiled annie how soon did you fly afterwards? My wife had coiled annie 2 weeks ago and I'm thinking of taking her away for a week in September, she has a 6 week checkup end August, no symptoms after op Dr told her to carry on as normal. Thanks....

Dont get me started with the DVLA! My wife suffered her mini stroke in April 2011, license returned May 2011, 2 lots of eye tests in 12 months, she failed with 4/5 clusters in upper left quadrant - the dvla are useless - 6 weeks to respond to a letter, never meeting deadlines, they are a rule to themselves. My wife still hasnt had her license back even though her eyesight is stable. She is more than capable of driving and I think were going to book an appointment with Swansea soon otherwise I'll be instructing a lawyer to deal with this. Maybe Scotland is different but believe me dont get your hopes up if you are dealing with Swansea....

Thanks for all your kind words ! It's such a relief and looking forward to things getting better now on. Dr thinks my wifes original stroke was possibly caused by the annie leaking but it's not been proven - I guess well never now, and nor do we know if the annie was there last year. And out of interest each coil costs £1000, some people have been known to have 20-30 coils! As far as vision goes Sally - yup, my wife has the same problem and it occured after the strokes in Cyprus, she has a shadow in the upper left of her eyes, but no symptoms that are known such as bumping into doors / problems with reading etc. She's had to revoke her driving license as well and the DVLA have been a nightmare - that's still a battle we have going on - my wife failed the field of vision test with 3 or 4 clusters but it's consistent and has not gone worse. But the DVLA are just soooo slow, this has been going on since December last year - they are a rule to themselves. My wife is really starting to show the strain of not being able to drive now - it was hard enough selling her car last year. And I'm not sure if I already mentioned it but the annie was diagnosed by accident as my wife has been suffering with muscle problems in her stroke arm and the MRI found the annie and no other problems relating to her arm, maybe her arm was trying to tell her something! Who knows but thank god it was found. Think I've got 2 threads going on now so I better be careful I dont duplicate oops!

Just in case you dont read my other thread - she's had it done and it all went perfectly :-D:-D http://www.behindthegray.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?7927-Unruptured-Aneurysm-Coiling-operation-was-succesful-best-news-ever!!!&p=82239#post82239

Hi All, I thought I'd post this for those that are looking for something positive if they are having the same op. You might have read about my wife in the welcome section, well on Tuesday this week she had her Aneurysm succesfully coiled at Walton. The Aneurysm was 4mm in size and she had two platinum coils fitted, she had no adverse affects during the op and it took 2 hours in total. They didnt go through her groin as stated at lot on the web - they actually went through an arterey in her leg just to the left of her groin and in line with her hip - no shaving involved! And no major bleading from the wond after. She's doing amazingly, I brought her home yesterday, so I guess 1 day op, 4 hours in HDU, next day MRI, yesteday Dr gave the all clear. She was so happy when she came around after the op... She doesnt appear to be in any pain - just tired a lot which I can imagine is the norm. Walton have done an amazing job

Hi Paul, your comments make total sense and says it all. There's no way we'd chance flying out there until my wife has the all clear. On a side note, this all started when we were on holiday in Cyprus last year (we lived there in 2009 for a couple of years thus the reason for being obsessed with the island!) One thing I will say, Airmed who repatriated my wife last year were absolutely amazing. Unbelivably professional and treated my wife as if she was the most fragial thing in this world. Without my travel insurance god knows what mess we would have been in. Hope your wife is having a good week by the way. I'm going to read your update now.

Hi all, just a quick update - have the review at Walton today, Dr advised a 5mm annie on RHS of brain, he shown us a photo of the CT scan on his PC and you could see it clear as day. He also suggested my wife doesnt fly to Cyprus as they dont have any surgeons capable of coiling in Cyprus if it was to burst (he is correct on this one). So, Dr advised the annie should be coiled, reckons it'll be booked in for next Month. Shame about the holiday but such is life - wife was upset, but she's a heck of a positive person, she agreed to the op but doesnt have much choice, sitting around worrying about the what if's wont help. Dr advised a 5% death rate of annies, maybe I'll start another thread to discuss her next steps.

I definitely can add to this, as my wife has been house bound since May 2011 and lost her driving license I couldnt definitely see she was losing her confidence and interest in life, so in January this year I finally gave in [ATTACH=CONFIG]1694[/ATTACH] My wife has been after one of these for ages - Rough Collie, named him Buddy - he's 8 months old now. He's brought back that smile that I missed so much. And your all right - they definitely take your mind off the problems that you just keep stewing over time & time again. Only problem now is that it looks as if there will be 3 of us going on UK holidays in the future!