Loretta Walker

retta@wvi.com

On April 9, 2006 it was like any other day. I arose went about my day and went to bed feeling great and healthy. In the middle of the night I woke with the most excrutiating pain in my head and screaming for my husband to call 911.

Because this was the middle of the night my husband thought their had been an intruder in the house, when he realized it was my head hurting he asked the usual questions. I told him there was no time and needed to go to the hospital something wasn't right in my head.

This sounds stupid but I could feel myself dying at this time. I became lifeless and told my husband to tell our son how much I loved him and told my husband never to forget I loved him as well. At this point my pain ceased; I could hear my husband on the phone telling the 911 caller I was unresponsive. My husband took me and begged me to hang on, told me not to die. All of a sudden the pain was back, more intense than ever. I beagan vomiting.

The paramedics arrived and I had no blood pressure. They immediately hooked me up to IV's and rushed me to our local small triage hospital where a CAT SCAN revealed a severe brain aneurysm. The last thing I remember was the doctor telling my husband I had a severe brain aneurysm and could not be life flighted due to the altitude so I would be sent by ambulance and he may want to contact family members. The next thing I knew I woke up in ICU.

Today, I continue to recover. I have some unsteady gait, dizziness, speech difficulties, word finding problems, continued post surgical pain but with continued therapy I am getting better. Unfortunately I was denied my disability but that is another story....

For those of you who have had a TBI; DO NOT give up, nobody can predict your recovery time and for family members and friends it is important for the recovery process of your loved one that you stay in their life, help them when needed, if they can't drive offer to take them out and visit them, it will aid in their recovery process.