ob0t

Wow - thank you all so much for taking the time to reply. It's really quite overwhelming, and I'm feeling much more confident for knowing that you're all out there. I'm lucky to have a job that allows me to be with her every day so regulating her visitors isn't a problem, just a little stressful as there are so many people wanting to come visit. So far I'm only allowing her closest friends and immediate family to visit, and then only a couple of people a day. In between visitors I'll go and sit with her and help her to relax and/or sleep if she wants to. Over the past couple of days she's started sleeping more through the night and she's been awake through most of the afternoon providing her visitors remember to remain calm while they're there. It's really hard to know how much is too much at the moment, but it sounds like her body will probably let her know if she's overdoing it. Her consultant said yesterday that her ultrasound shows signs of vasospasm on the right side of her brain, and that she has a slight weakness on her left side, but that the weakness is improving and she shows no symptoms of reduced blood flow to any part of her brain so far. He seems happy that her body is doing what it needs to do to protect itself for now, despite the vasospasms. She is very alert and chatty, and yesterday was giving the nurses relationship advice for most of the morning. So apart from low sodium levels she is very stable and has very little pain/sickness at the moment, which is fantastic news and I hope she will have another good day today. Thanks again for all of your help and advice so far. I'm sure that once she is released from hospital she will take as much comfort from knowing BTG is here as I do!

Thank you all so much for your kind words and advice so far. It's so comforting to know that there are other people out there who have been through the same thing, and that makes me feel so much stronger. Apparently my wife (Donna) has had lots of rest last night, which it great news, and they're letting me come down a bit earlier today in case she wakes up in the morning. As you say, it's a matter of taking each day as it comes and being thankful for each tiny step along the way. Of course you're right that each day she does get a little better - yesterday she managed to eat for the first time all week, and I can't tell you all how proud I was of her for that. One question for you all - the news spread very quickly that Donna was very ill, and there have been dozens of people asking after her. It seems that everyone wants to come and see her. She's had some visitors already - her mum, and a couple of her closest friends, but the visits really do tire her out, and I've found that people are needing quite a strong nudge when it's time to leave. Today her dad and sister have shown up unexpectedly and want to pay her a surprise visit, which is frustrating because I was hoping to have a quiet day alone with her and not have to worry about looking after both her and her visitors for a change. Perhaps that's a little unreasonable of me, and perhaps I'm feeling too much that it's my responsibility to bear, but that's how I feel. Anyway, how did you handle visitors during the early stages? She is lucid enough to hold a conversation and says she wants to see people, but I get the feeling that she wouldn't really care whether people came or not at this point. Did you appreciate the visits at the time, or was it just something that happened? Or would you rather have just been left alone to rest up? I've put together a scrapbook with all the messages (emails, facebook messages, etc) and cards people have left for her, which she enjoys looking through for a few minutes if she's awake in the night, but I kind of get the impression that the visits themselves are more beneficial for the visitor than her..

Hi, My name is Andy, and I'm here because my wife has had a SAH. The haemorrhage happened just 5 days ago in the evening of Monday 8th October. On Tuesday morning she had a coiling op, which was successful with no issues. Since then she has been making a good recovery and her short term memory has improved a lot, but she has had a few complications along the way and is still in neuro HDU for the next few days at least. I'm here because I'm frightened about how her condition will develop over the coming days/weeks. Her specialist nurse has mentioned earlier today that she is now entering a period with a high risk of developing vasospasm and that today's ultrasound showed a big increase in the speed of blood in her arteries. So far she seems to have made an excellent recovery from the haemorrhage itself so I'm worried about what that might bring, although I am trying to wrap my head around the fact that there's not much point worrying about things that might never happen. And I'm also here because I want to know more what to expect on the road ahead. I've already learned so much by reading some of the posts here, and it's really helped put my mind at ease having been scared witless earlier in the week after getting bogged down in the minefield of statistics that are out there on the internet. My wife is 34, fit and healthy, but smokes and drinks a lot, and has a stressful job. In the longer term I've been hoping that the SAH may turn out to be a blessing in disguise and force us both to re-assess our priorities, and particularly to find more fulfilling (and less stressful!) work for her. We've been together 6 years, but our wedding was just 4 weeks ago and today my 30th birthday so the timing couldn't possibly be any worse! Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. I hope this gives you some insight into who I am and why I'm here. I look forwards to finding out more about your experiences!