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HI, I'm Stephanie I am a SAH survivor


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On Feb. 5th (Super bowl Sunday) right as the halftime show was about to start, I stood up and told my husband to call 911. I had felt a pop in my head and a warm gush down the back of my head and neck. Shortly after that, my face sagged on the left side and I began having seizures. By the time the ambulance got to the house (18min later) I had stopped breathing and had seized 3 times. I was life flighted to Riverside hospital in Columbus Ohio where they coiled the anyourism and put a temporary shunt in my head. They told my family to say their goodbyes, that I would not survive. I proved them wrong in more than one way. Not only did I survive, but I survived with minimal brain damage. I did end up with blindness in my left eye and partially blind in my right eye because of a syndrome called Tersons. That's where the blood from the SAH was pushed into the vitreous of my eyes and blocked the vision. I'm still partially blind in the right eye but they did a vitrectomy to give me back most of the vision in my left eye.

When I woke from the week long coma, they told me that I probably wouldn't walk again. Less than 4 months after the event, I am walking, talking, driving, and basically living my life better than I was before it happened. But, I have changed, I cry alot now, my moods are worse than ever before. I just don't feel like 'me' anymore.

I thought in Dec. of 2010 when I had my widow maker heart attack that life couldn't change any more than it did that day. I shouldn't have survived that either...but I AM a survivor by nature. With all that's going on with me health wise (and I'm far too young for all of this); while I was in the hospital for the SAH, my husband of almost 20 years now was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Less than a week after I was released from the nursing home, he underwent surgery to remove the tumor. Now he is about to undergo another surgery to remove infected lymph nodes in his abdominal area.

I don't get it, we're good people, we are kind and helpful whenever we can. I don't drink, I don't smoke (since 2010), I don't drink caffeine (since 2010), I don't even eat foods high in sodium, I"m not understanding why Karma is messing with my family in this way.

Edited by Stephanie Rubeck
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Hi Stephanie, welcome to btg. Everyone here is so friendly, supportive and understanding of the issues most of us go through. What an ordeal you and your family have been through. How strong you must be to pull through all of that and recover as well as you did! The mood swings, depression, not feeling like you, are all normal - if you look through past posts, you'll see lots of comments about it. You've been through a traumatic life threatening event and you need time to heal and adjust to the new you. I'm about 4 months post sah too and am also going through all the emotions. I've found a therapist to be very helpful in teaching me how to deal with it all. Anyway, I'm glad you found this site. I hope it will be a source of support and comfort for you. Take care. Lisa

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Hi Stephanie

Warm welcome to the site, glad you found us....

think I've just replied to your other post, there is no ryme or reason why it happens health or not I put mine down to the stress I was under but that's not always the case....

I hope your doing ok, take care

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