Guest Vtak Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 My name is Varun. My mom just had an anterior communicating subarachnoid hemmorhage. She just went through a surgical clipping with a temporary ventriculostomy 72 hrs ago. The response time for treatment was rapid as my dad took her to the hospital immediately and she got a quick diagnosis. She is able to move all extremities and is able to say simple 1 letter words.... but i am really scared for her. I am not able to comprehend the fact that this happened to anyone in my family... and moreover her. She has been in good health and is the only one who watches what she eats. She has had hypertension but she has been regular with her bp meds. I am here to just seek information regarding any ways we can make her recovery better and to really know what to expect now that this has occured... i know they say she will have memory problems and could have some personality changes but i think family perspective is different from a clinical prognosis, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 Hi Varun and welcome! Sorry to hear about your Mom. Your Dad's action in getting her into hospital so quickly for treatment, will definetly have made a huge difference to her outcome. How old is your Mom, Varun? The fact that she can move her extremities is a good sign ..... I had a temporary paralysis on my left side, which caused a little weakness at first, but it's pretty much back to normal now. My daughter Lauren, was very shocked and scared when I had mine....as were the rest of the family and friends.... but it seemed to affect her pretty badly. Lots of people refer to it as a "ticking time bomb" in your head....none of us knows that they're walking around with it and it's probably a good job that we don't! My aneurysm was probably just caused by a birth defect......I suppose that when we get to a certain age, the artery is like a rubber band and starts to perish at its weak point. Your Mom is probably feeling extremely tired and exhausted at the minute...I could barely speak or keep my eyes open at first....it was a good two weeks after my operation, that I started to feel better and more lucid. Stay positive Varun, it's natural to feel that your world has been turned upside down. Take one day at a time and very hopefully you will see a little more improvement in your Mom as each day goes by. I know that I was always overjoyed to see my family and kids when I was in hospital....even though I could barely keep my eyes open! I was just so grateful to be alive! I hope that you will keep us updated on how your Mom's progressing.....write anytime. Thinking of you and sending love, Karen x PS: A lot of us do have memory problems, as in short term memory...but over a period of time, it seems to improve......I still forget stuff and I have to make lists and just write things down. When I first came out of hospital it was very bad, but now it's just something that occassionally annoys me! As for personality change....I've always been told that it depends which area of the brain has been affected? My personality hasn't been affected, but the way that I view life now, after having a life/death experience, that has certainly changed. It's the mental stuff, such as anxiety and fear for the future that has affected me the most......again with time that aspect does improve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 Hi Varun Sorry to hear about your Mom. I had my SAH 7 weeks ago and for the first week I was unconscious most of the time - its the body's way of making sure that it can heal. I know that this is an extremely hard time for you and your family but try and stay positive for your Mom. make sure she sees you smiling - when my daughter found it too hard to visit me in hospital it saddened me but I understood as she's only 9 but she sent pictures and letters to me via my parents. Thinking of you and sending love too. Sami xxxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 Hi Varun. Sorry to hear about your Mum this must be a very worrying time for you all, I think we all hate the thought of something like this happening to someone especially your Mum. I don’t think they know what sets things like this off, the only way I can think of to aid in her recovery is you be as normal as you can be & strong, everyone I know has different ways of dealing with it so I can’t tell you what to expect, you just have to be strong my husband would tell you that strength is something that you do need lots of… I don’t know if any of that helps or not except to say I’ve been through it too, If you need to moan this site is a good place for it, I only found it last week and already I’ve had therapy you might say. Take care Louise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vtak Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 Thank you all. My father is a doctor actually (internal medicine) and I am a 3rd year medical student. So I think my mother is getting the best care she could at this time (touch wood)... But, the horrible thing for me at least is that I have never faced this sort of problem in my life before... though I have seen a lot of suffering around me, but i never took it to heart like i am taking this. However, my mom is doing okay, the cerebral irritation is reducing because her drain is almost all clear now. The neurosurgeon said that he will probably try and wait to see if he needs to put a permanent shunt in... he doesn't want to do it if he doesn't have to. I looked up some literature regarding Ant Communicating and its actually one of the 2 most common ones and has the least motor/ sensory deficits. As I said before, it does seem like she has some speech difficulty but that cannot be evaluated accurately because she is always in and out of unconsicousness and the Intracranial pressure fluctuation make her agitated due to the headaches from time to time. I hope all of you are doing well and my heart goes out to your brave families who stood by you through this time of need. bye Varun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Hi Varun Ah! So that’s why you were using all the Big words. You weren’t attached to the other people in the same way as you are with your Mum. Glad to hear your Mum is doing better, I have a shunt & my speech was affected but now its fine with a lot of hard work & help from my husband too. For me I was unaware what was going on but we talk about it even now because its part of my life wither I was aware of it or not, & I think it does my husband good to talk about it too it had as much of an impact on him as it did on me. Well take care & hope to hear how your Mum is progressing. Louise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Hi Varun, Hope all is well with your Mom. Yes, I'm sure with having Doctors in the family that your Mum will have the best care she can possibly get and I would imagine that you will end up being an expert on the subject of SAH! Like the other girls have said to you......just give her lots of emotional support and show her that you're coping with her illness. I think that with Mothers, they are the centre of the family, they've always been there for you and it probably hits you a lot harder, when the tables are turned and you have to look after them. I'm glad that she's doing well and I hope that you will keep in contact as to her progress. My aneurysm was on the post communicating artery...but it's affected my right eyesight as I had a III nerve palsy. My speech wasn't affected, but initially I did find it hard to find the right words to say and couldn't hold much of a conversation. Even now, if I get very tired...I know what I want to say, but sometimes I just lose the words in my head! Anyway Varun, thinking of you and your family and hope your Mom continues to make good progress. Take care, Love Karen x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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