Nick Being Alive Is A Miracle...

[StrawberryFields]

Originally posted by pushka@Feb 1 2005, 03:21 AM

Strawberry, I was shocked on seeing the scan of your son's skull...the damage was enormous and I am very happy for you all that he has recovered so well.

I had to have an emergency brain op. back in 2002. Not on the scale of Nick's by any stretch of the imagination, however I felt very lucky to be alive following it. I had previously fallen and caught the left side of my head on my living room wall as I went down. I take warfarin to keep my blood thin, due to heart trouble, and the fall/knock to my head started a bleed between my skull and my brain.

For the next week I suffered more and more headaches, started to lose consciousness, and slept loads. I was too scared to go to the hospital and just took more and more pain killers and sleeping tablets so that I couldn't feel anything. Eventually at the end of the last week, my friend rang me and insisted on visiting me in spite of me saying, 'no, I don't feel like company, I've got headache'. He came to visit and noticed that I was 'out of it' all day. At this point the alarm was raised and I was taken to casualty. The blood clot was not discovered until the next day when I was given a CT scan. I was then moved to our area's neuro hospital and just watched over for a few days...asked the questions, what day is it? what year is it? (I replied 1992) who is the prime minister? I was given large doses of Codeine to keep the pain at bay and told to lie very still.

After 3 days, I believe, my condition suddenly worsened and at 7.30am my mother was called and asked to give permission for an emergency op to remove the blood clot which was now behind my eye socket. She gave her permission and the surgery went ahead.

Fortunately, I was conscious...albeit still dazed, within a short time of the op. and just remained in hospital for a further 3 weeks. I didn't need any rehab, and a follow up visit to the neurologist said that I was in the clear. The most frightening thing for my mother was that the staff had had to take me off my warfarin before the operation and were afraid to put me back on it in case it caused another bleed to occur. I was not told about this.

So, yes Strawberry, I empathise deeply with you regarding the trauma that you and your son, and the rest of your family went through...he certainly has been very, very lucky, and I wish you all the best for the future and for his surgery on 2nd February.

Thanks for sharing your story Pushka.

It is really amazing the amount of people who have had injury to their brain. I am happy that your situation turned out so well. You have a great friend who felt inspired to visit you despite your hesitations.

In the past six months, I have learned more about brain injuries then any other subject. One thing that I found most interesting is the inside of our skulls are not smooth like the outside. On the inside they are sharp and jagged, that is why any impact to the head has the potential to become serious.

[Guest curvette]

My prayers are being sent as I type. Please let us know how he does...

[pushka]

Thank you Strawberry...I must admit when I look back on those incidents I feel a sort of dread of what might have been if my friend hadn't have insisted on visiting, and a sense of how lucky I was to have survived...

Best wishes to your son, Nick xx