Hello

[Guest David]

Im David. Im 41, married for 20 years with2 sons, 19 & 15.

I had my SAH whilst on holiday in Italy last October. I had the coiling & so far all is ok....well sort off!

I found the recovery process very frustrating & so slow. The overwhelming fatigue, headaches & loss of confidence was & still is my biggest problem.

I lost my job as a result of my illness in March of this year, & am now almost at the end of a long & stressful employment tribunal.

I already had a place in the 2006 London Marathon in April this year, running for Children with Leukaemia, but ran for the Brain & Spine Foundation, raised over £5,000 for poeple like us.

I am still finding life a real challenge. I get so exhausted from general things. I am begining to feel like i am going to stay like this forever but then some days I can see a slight glint of light at the end of the tunnel & I think great......until the following day it's back to basics again.

I could do with talking to some people about this state of affairs. Hope you are all well.

Thank you for reading this & i hope to hear from you

David :?

[Karen]

Hi David,

It's really good to hear from you. I'm Karen and you've probably seen a lot of my ramblings on the site already and my story is in the articles section.

I'm amazed at the amount of stories that I've read where the SAH has taken place whilst on holiday....how did you get on being in Italy when it happened?

My own recovery is very slow, thought that I would have been back to normal ages ago....and yes, it is so very frustrating when you just want to get on with your life. Like yourself, loss of confidence is still quite an issue with me....I sometimes wonder where the old Karen is hiding.

Well, I think that you are amazing to have run the Marathon this year.......I can still barely walk a mile without my head spinning.....so you've done wonders in achieving that and raising all that money for charity!

Sorry to hear about your job.....what line of work were you in? I was self employed before the SAH, but haven't been able to return to it.

My days are the same as yours...............one day up, the next day down...it does seem never ending and it is mentally exhausting. It's really hard on the family too, I have stopped making plans now......as when I do make them, I usually have to cancel, so everything is done pretty much last minute now.

Anyway, have to go as my daughter wants the computer! Hope that you will keep posting.......it's lovely to have a chat!

Take care,

Karen

[Skippy]

Hi David

I had my SAH whilst on holiday this year. Ironically enough we very nearly went to Italy but ended up in Devon as we needed to ensure that we were only a fairly short journey from our business.

I'm only five weeks into my recovery and also had the coiling. I've been lucky (and I use that word lightly) enough not to have suffered any lastin physical side effects. Although I know that I am doing remarkably well I'm also finding the fatigue and headaches frustrating at this point so I can only imagine how you're feeling a year on - though I can't imagine the tribunal and effort that has taken can't have helped much.

To be able to have ran a marathon tho is amazing - at the mo I just about have the energy to run the bath

As I've been told many a time by the fantastic guys on here - listen to your body and rest when you can. I sometimes see that glint at the end of the tunnel too and so long as I keep seeing it, it doesn't matter how many days of back to basics there are, just knowing that the glint of normality exists is enough to keep me going and determined that I will get better emotionally and that I can pace myself enough for the fatigue not to be so harsh.

Hang in there with us all and you'll be fine

Sami xxxx

[Karen]

Hi David,

Just a quick note to let you know that Andy P has replied to your comment on the Alison Wertheimer Article under "Read Articles". Just in case you don't happen to look there.

K x

[Karen]

Hi David,

Hope that you are feeling well.

Just wanted to ask you how your case is going with the employment tribunal?

Hope that you're managing not to get too stressed out and just to let you know that I'm thinking about you.

Take care,

Karen x

[Louise]

Hi David

I only joined last week it’s taken me ages reading all the stories but I’ve enjoyed it very much.

I had my SAH in November 1999 & I found it frustrating & very, very slow too, but being able to take part in the 2006 London Marathon what an achievement & what a buzz that must have been to you & your confidence I certainly could not have done that not even now, well done….

Yes I find life a real challenge at times but it won’t be forever I have good days & bad days when I have the bad ones I think about the good ones & hope that the next day or so I’ll see that light at the end of that enormous tunnel

Two weeks after I was discharged from the Re-hab hospital I got a letter from my work saying that due to restructuring there was no longer a job for me, I was so upset about this I’d planned to go back to work but they’d taken the rug away from me so to speak, I didn’t know if I would have been able to do the job but this didn’t allow me to find out, 5 days later I was back in hospital with viral meningitis which turned out to be slightly worse than the Brain Haemorrhage strangely, I wasn’t able to sue as I just wanted to forget the whole thing now I would though – but its too late though.

Because there is still someone doing the job that I did.

I hope the tribunal goes your way they don’t know what they’re doing when they do something like that its people’s lives they’re playing with that’s my impression anyway probably because of my experience.

Well I’ve rambled enough hope it all makes sense to you sometimes I tend not to make too much sense about things, just how I am I reckon.

Take care

Louise.