Brain Aneurysm Stories
The Doctor Makes a House Call
In 2002 without warning at 11pm my wife clutched her head saying she had a bad pain. The pain did not subside so I immediately called our GP, my GP asked if to speak to my wife, I asked my wife if she could speak to the doctor and held the phone for her. My wife moved her hand as if to hold the phone and said “please come out there is something wrong” and dropped the phone. My GP agree she would be there in 10 minutes. I dashed downstairs put the lights on and left the front door ajar and ran back up the stair to find my wife being sick. The doctor arrived fairly quickly and on entering the room asked me to get some tissue to “tidy Mrs. D……….. up”. I went and got some as I came back into the bedroom and the doctor asked my wife who was sat up in bed to lean forward, the doctor said “it’s probably a spasm from the muscle group at the base of the neck—the only other thing it could be is a sub” she was stopped mid word as my wife collapsed, made a guttural sound and stopped breathing, We applied CPR, I did my wife’s breaths and the doctor her chest compressions, I remember the doctor telling me to stop as she had a pulse. My wife did not breathe spontaneously and I screamed at her to breathe—she took a gasp of air in, another followed what seemed like ages after, my wife was breathing but it was not normal. The doctor asked me to call an ambulance which I did, we monitored my wife till they arrived And then they spent a while stabilizing her. My 6 year old son woke and luckily I caught him on the landing before he came to our bedroom, I sent him back to bed and he fell back to sleep.
They took my wife in the ambulance to the Northampton General Hospital. I had to stay with my lad and phone my wife’s mum/dad then my daughter who lived in Milton Keynes what had happened. They eventually came to our house so I could get to the hospital. By this time it was morning but at least I could get to the hospital and my son in law drove me. My wife was in A&E and seemed as if she was just asleep on a trolley, she was in fact in a coma and I was told she has suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage. We were advised to go home as they were seeking a specialist hospital bed. We went home and got a call to say they were preparing my wife for transport by full life support in an effort to gain best stability for the transfer to Oxford, the best in the country. We were on route later that day by car after going to my daughter’s house because her dogs had to be let out when we had a call to say that my wife was on route back to Northampton as there were “problems with the angiogram” at Oxford. We visited my wife at Northampton with my two boys the age 6 and 10. I wish I had not taken them. My wife was on full life support with tubes everywhere.
Late afternoon we were told a bed had been found at the Royal Free Hospital in London and my wife was being transported immediately. I prepared to go to London and my wife’s mum asked to be able to come with me. My wife was in ITU on full life support but she also was scheduled to have a shunt fitted to her head to help dissipate the pressure in her head. On day 7 still in a coma they tried to reach the site to coil the haemorrhage but my wife re-acted and they had to withdraw although on the phone we were told the procedure had been successful. My wife had progressed to breathing without support so was eventually transferred to a ward. Day 9 she was stable on the ward and we seemed to be doing well. I went home but the following day came back with my wife’s parents, her aunt and uncle.
It was Saturday and by the time I had picked them up and we travelled by car to London it was about 1 in the afternoon. We went into the ward towards the nurse station to get the ok to see my wife when we heard a loud voice say sternly “where have you been I have been waiting for you all morning”. YES it was my wife fully awake, everything worked although she was weak on her right side and knew us all. When I showed her the pictures of the kids she knew the boys and our daughter but was confused about her age.
We had a great day, and another good day on the Sunday. I was exhausted (again) and our daughter was concerned about me travelling at night alone in London so twice I tried to leave but my wife asked me to stay so I did. Eventually I had to explain to my wife that I had to go as I had to travel to north London. I left her about 8.45pm, my lodgings were about half an hour away. I had a call at 1am from my wife’s mum, she said the hospital were trying to get in touch and I was to go back straight away as “Mrs D…….. had deteriorated”. I managed to get to the hospital very quickly and did so by going through many red lights. When I got to the ward I saw my wife was very pale with a bruise near her lip so I guessed that she had been resuscitated at least once. She looked peaceful as if asleep. At just after 2am the doctor came and asked if he could see to Mrs D promising not to be more than 2 minutes which I thought was odd. I was asked to wait at the end of the ward, he came to me a minute later and said “I have no other way of putting this Mr D….. but I do expect that Mrs D…… will die shortly”.
I went over a discussion I had with the registrar on Thursday about what could be done in the event of another problem arising. However this was not another haemorrhage event, but it was an aneurysm In the centre of the left hemisphere where all the essential functions were. The doctor explained to get to the site from the outside they would have to cut into my wife’s brain which would “leave Mrs D…….very very poorly”. I understood and knew instantly my wife would not contemplate being damaged in such a way and wish to live. I went to Wen and held her in my arms, I watched and held her as life ebbed away, I told her how much we all love her and begged her not to go---slowly I saw the pulse in her neck diminish, the distance between Wen taking breaths became longer and longer until she did not breath. I went for assistance when I felt she had passed away, she passed away very peacefully, no struggle for life no drama to keep living. It will be eight years this October and there isn’t a day I don’t think of Wen, sometimes it’s all day.
Jim
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Nothing on this website should, in any way be considered medical advice. It is presented as general information only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any type of medical condition. I am not a doctor, nurse, or any other type of medical or health care professional. Nor am I an expert on Aneurysms. However, I am an expert on the experience of having suffered a ruptured Aneurysm and the subsequent treatment I received. This site should not be considered to be, nor is it intended to be, a definitive source of information regarding Aneurysms. I have made every attempt to ensure the accuracy of any information presented here, but again, I am not a medical professional and my own interpretation of this information could be in error.