by Bonnie Weikel

Created on: May 06, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

On Oct.10th I went to bed about 10:30 my light bulb never came back on till Oct. 31. My experience with a Brain Aneurysm changed my life forever.

Unfortunately my aneurysm ruptured.My fiance was home so I wasn't alone tank God. I had a seizure which alerted him to problems since I'd never had a seizure in my life. I was rushed to the local hospital. Stroke was ruled out right away. After a CT scan showed the bleed I was rushed to another hospital in the nearest major city almost 2 hrs. away. It was too foggy to fly me so they transported me by ambulance. About five miles from the first hospital I quit breathing for the third time and they couldn't get me breathing on my own again so they bagged me for most of the ride.

The whole procedure was explained to my daughter and fiance. My daughter being a Nurse herself told the DR. she wanted it straight. She mad the decision to go through with the surgery. My incision went from about mid top shaped in a C and ended above my ear.

The DR. came out from the surgery with a big smile on his face my daughter said. He was pleased with how things went and didn't expect there'd be much brain damage.They kept me in a drug induced coma for a bit. I was a miracle they told her. I recognized everyone when I woke up. Al tho i did confuse people and argue allot. My temperament changed a bit and still is off from the old me. I had to learn everything ll over again. But caught on very quickly.

In total I spent 14 days in ICU and another 14 plus days in rehab. I was aware of the last week in rehab. I lost all memory from the 10th to the 31st. of Oct. My daughter tells me i don't want to remember it. When I was release I could barely walk a flight of stairs and now I can go rollerskating with my grandchildren.

She tells me all the way to the hospital I complained of the headache from hell. I am glad that memory didn't remain.

After my release from rehab I had to stay with my daughter during the week and at home on the weekends with my fiance when he was home off the road.I wasn't allowed to be alone for fear I'd try to cook something and forget about it. Or fall because my balance was bad, or even wonder off out side somewhere because I got confused easy. As you can probably see from this writing I still am off a bit. But I survived, I can walk, talk and even drive now on my own. Unfortunately I can no longer work. My short term memory is not good.All tho I no longer have to carry a note book all the time I still post allot of notes.

My personality has changed a bit, my temperament is short, I can't always tolerate loud noise or a lot of commotion.My balance is off at times and i still get confused a bit but all in all I am good.I do however suffer from insomnia which i am told is typical of TBI patients.I know at first it was fear of going to sleep ad not waking up again but now it's just inability to go to sleep. I went into a deep depression for awhile and slowly pulled myself out of it. I have good days and bad days. It's been a long slow recovery for me and I know i will never be the same.

I am learning to like the new me and that is hard at times. I no longer enjoy the things I used to but I am slowly finding new hobbies etc. The hard part for me now is learning to not concentrate on what I lost and concentrate more on how far I have come. I have so much to be thankful for and i try to concentrate on that.

I am what I am A Survivor.

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