Becky
September 22, 2006 completely changed my life... I had a seizure while working out at the gym, at that time I didn’t know what was happening. I was 30 and had a 5 year old son and 2 year old daughter. The gym called 911, in my mind I thought I was fine, just over exercised, no need to call paramedics. I tried to talk, but my tongue wouldn’t move, I couldn’t talk. They took me straight to the local hospital; I don’t remember the 2 mile drive. After awhile I finally came out of my seizure (for me they are more stroke like than seizure like), telling the Dr’s I was fine, I just wanted to go home. Then I realized that my daughter was at the gym with me, WHERE was she? Who had her? I won’t ever forget that feeling, a parent’s worst nightmare! She was fine; the gym people took her and called my husband and in-laws. The ER doctors wanted to do a CT scan to make sure everything was ok. He came into my room and said I had an aneurism the size of a quarter and they were transferring me straight over to Barrows Neurological Hospital (one of the best) 20 miles away. Only I wasn’t concerned about the “aneurism” I was thinking…can I have my husband take me and save an ambulance trip?? They didn’t think that was funny! Once I got to Barrow’s, the Dr.’s did an MRI/MRA and discovered that I had a Cavernous Malformation in my right frontal lobe, not an aneurism. They didn't want to operate on it then (operation??!! brain surgery??!! what??!!) I was in the ICU at Barrows for 4 days, asking the nurses if I could take a shower! Talk about throwing ICU nurses for a loop; most ICU rooms don’t have a shower! Luckily they let me go take a shower all by myself!! Unfortunately or fortunately, I had to wait to see Dr. Spetzler (again, thankfully, one of the best), he was at a conference, so I was finally released after the other neurosurgeons consulted with him. I couldn’t drive for at least 3 months because of the seizure, and from that first day, began the headache that would not go away. I got into see Dr. Spetzler on December 4th and he suggested having brain surgery to remove it. He thought it was easily accessible, I was young and would “bounce back” quick. The one risk would be complete paralyzation on my left side. Despite that risk, on December 14th, I had brain surgery to remove my "Buddy" as we named it! I spent 4 days in the hospital, had some numbness on my left side and the headaches were still there, but was considered a successful surgery. At the post-op check up, the numbness and headaches were still present and Iwas told that it was swelling from the surgery. Well 3 years, daily headaches, numb/heavy leftside, and several breakthrough seizures later, I am doing ok. Still not where I was before all this happened, but thankful it isn’t worse. I have had several MRI’s/MRA’s since; and there is still some residual staining from my bleed and some scar tissue. I was also just diagnosed with having a Chiari Malformation, Oct 2008, Dr. Spetzler just wants to watch that and see if it progresses with other symptoms. Despite it all, I live life to the fullest I possibly can!