Hi, I'm James (or Jimmy) from Cardiff, I'm 42 , think I'm still 23, live with my amazing Mrs, Claire, and we're about to have our first child any.....minute......now!
Had my SAH on 9th Feb 2013 and I guess like all of us on this forum, it was a bolt out of the blue! I didn't consider myself as a person likely to have a stroke, I was relatively fit, don't drink that much, don't smoke etc etc. So when it did happen.....BOOM! My world was shaken to it's core!
I'd been for a. jog in the morning, first in a while but nothing too strenuous, had a
little breakfast and then off to an ante natal class with Claire, where things were about to get interesting!
First a touch of an occular migraine kicked in, vision disrupted that kind of thing, then whilst taking part in a group discussion on the various stages of labour, a whooshing sound in my head started.... and the sensation of falling. I excused my self from the room and fell to my knees in the corridor outside...thinking "this is odd". Luckily Claire found me and walked me home during which I thought I was having a heart attack - I felt awful.
At home I went to bed, told Claire to "stop fussing" as it was only a migraine........
Claire heard my moans from downstairs and found me in a bit of a mess....one ambulance later I was in hospital having various tests. I recall nothing of this period nothing for several days in fact. However, when I did come round I was duly informed I'd had a SAH and would need a coil fitted. Great.
However I cannot complain. On the neurology ward in the UHW I saw people with bigger battles than me on their hands and saw how they made incredible progress. The Nurses were unbelievable. The level of care they showed....it's brought tears to my eyes just thinking of it. They were amazing. ****** amazing. The Doctors weren't too shabby either!!
I think I've got off lightly..... fatigue, double vision, numbness in my left hand, but things are improving. Slowly.
Thanks to this site I've learned that "slowly" is a common word during the healing progress!
Oh, and drink plenty of water!
I've managed my expectations accordingly.
Bit of a long post but finally, this site has been a great source of information and also reassurance, so thank you to all who have taken the time to post on here - you've really helped a panicky dad to be to calm down and get his head around where he is!!