Post #1: Aneurysm
A brain aneurysm (AN-yoo-riz-um) is a bulge or ballooning in a blood vessel in the brain. It often looks like a berry hanging on a stem. A brain aneurysm can leak or rupture, causing bleeding into the brain (hemorrhagic stroke).
The survival rate for those with a ruptured brain aneurysm is about 60% (40% die). For those who survive and recover, about 66% have some permanent neurological defect.
It will take 3 to 6 weeks to fully recover. If you had bleeding from your aneurysm this may take longer. If you had a stroke or brain injury from the bleeding, you may have permanent problems such as trouble with speech or thinking, muscle weakness, or numbness.
August fades into late September and somehow becomes October and I know, or think I know, I am late to begin work at The Stone House Center at SRU. Do they know I’ve been stuck in a
hospital and I don’t know when I can make it back to work? Wait. Why am I in a hospital?
Are hospitals allowed to send patients home without putting them back together first? In late October I return to hospital to have the portion of my skull which was removed, stored and frozen, defrosted, and cleaned, put back into place with muscle, skin, and other membranes reattached to hold it in place along with some titanium screws. I come home with cocktails of pharmaceuticals and overwhelming fatigue.
People keep saying things to me. I don’t really understand. Aneurysm. Vasospasms. Fall risk. Caution. Don’t. People are in the house when my family is gone. What am I supposed to do?
I know I am the hostess but my guests look nervous if I try to prepare a snack or to get them a beverage. Talk, talk, talk. That’s what I guess I’m supposed to do. But I haven’t a thing to say. I just want to be me.
I want to serve them something tasty. I am redirected from that comfortable instinct. It is uncomfortable. And it lasts for some time.
A brain aneurysm (AN-yoo-riz-um) is a bulge or ballooning in a blood vessel in the brain. It often looks like a berry hanging on a stem. A brain aneurysm can leak or rupture, causing bleeding into the brain (hemorrhagic stroke).
The survival rate for those with a ruptured brain aneurysm is about 60% (40% die). For those who survive and recover, about 66% have some permanent neurological defect.
It will take 3 to 6 weeks to fully recover. If you had bleeding from your aneurysm this may take longer. If you had a stroke or brain injury from the bleeding, you may have permanent problems such as trouble with speech or thinking, muscle weakness, or numbness.
August fades into late September and somehow becomes October and I know, or think I know, I am late to begin work at The Stone House Center at SRU. Do they know I’ve been stuck in a
hospital and I don’t know when I can make it back to work? Wait. Why am I in a hospital?
Are hospitals allowed to send patients home without putting them back together first? In late October I return to hospital to have the portion of my skull which was removed, stored and frozen, defrosted, and cleaned, put back into place with muscle, skin, and other membranes reattached to hold it in place along with some titanium screws. I come home with cocktails of pharmaceuticals and overwhelming fatigue.
People keep saying things to me. I don’t really understand. Aneurysm. Vasospasms. Fall risk. Caution. Don’t. People are in the house when my family is gone. What am I supposed to do?
I know I am the hostess but my guests look nervous if I try to prepare a snack or to get them a beverage. Talk, talk, talk. That’s what I guess I’m supposed to do. But I haven’t a thing to say. I just want to be me.
I want to serve them something tasty. I am redirected from that comfortable instinct. It is uncomfortable. And it lasts for some time.
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More than the hours and the rigor spent with Occupational, Physical, and Cognitive therapists, doctors, or researchers, the real constant therapist, guide, consoler, and motivator was time I spent thinking about and the hours I practiced and re-learned my relationship with food.
The story I offer to you over the next few weeks is: Food; in all its forms, in its invitation to consider the “other”, in its quotidian and its celebratory. In many ways it was a tool and a teacher for me in re-discovering myself and the world after a brain trauma. Forego the brain trauma and let food continue to teach you, too. |
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