It's Possible To Survive A Cerabral Aneurysm

This is a response to a couple of postings on my blog.

An Aneurysm Affects Your Health And Changes Your Lifestyle.

Hi Somer and Dave. My name is Dick and I own this blog. I'm truly sorry for not keeping this blog up to date. I've been quite distracted lately and sometimes have a bit of a problem getting things done.

It took me about two years to get my system somewhat functional. I still have memory problems and am limited on what I can physically do. I'm in my 4 1/2 year mark since my aneurysm rupture. Mine happened on 4/3/02

Somer, I had tubes stuck down my throat and nose, chest, belly, and the top of my head for about two weeks. I was in ICU for about 6 weeks. The throat tube and the one stuck in my head for drainage, they tell me it was a bleeder problem, were removed but they left the other tubes in for whatever reason.

I was transferred to a rehab hospital on the 7th week. The only thing I really had going for me at that time was something called 'dissociative disorder.' It's sort of an amnesia that blocks the events that are occurring at the time. Here's a Google Link to sites that tell about the 'Dissociative Event'

My wife tells me that I was totally functional and talking. However, I have no memory at all of anything happening for over 10 weeks since my rupture. No pain. No up. No Down. No light. No dark. Nothing.

Your mother is going to need a lot of your help to get her memory going. I had no short-term memory. I didn't know my name, birthday, or even that I had three kids. My wife made up around 300 questions and answers about my life for me to pour over. That's the one thing that helped me get back on track.

It appears that the survival rate is increasing with this sort of problem so keep your cheers up and a prayer couldn't hurt either.

What I find discouraging is the fact that a simple MRI can catch most of these aneurysms before they rupture.

My best to you and your mother.

Dick.