Shop Talk

I recently received a new title: “brain aneurysm survivor”. It just happened so I am not completely out of the woods yet. But, as I read stories about other survivors, I see how very lucky I am.

I had my rupture on October 5, 2010, 7:00pm at home. I felt a tingle in the back of my head and I knew immediately something happened. At first there was no pain, just a tingling sensation in the back of my head, sort of like when your arm falls asIeep. I decided to go to my local hospital about 2 hours later when the headache started. At that point I was thinking it could be an aneurysm. A CT scan confirmed a hemorrhage and off to the intensive care unit I go (via helicopter).

Just before I left my local hospital the headache did get worse. Just like they say: “It was the worse headache of my life”. Once the pain medicine kicked in I was more comfortable. I never lost consciousness, and I never had that feeling like “this was the end”. My family and close friends were very supportive and were with me the first night. I was very disappointed when they told me I would have to stay in the hospital for a week. But, after that it was all good news. All the angiograms, CT scans, and MRI’s came back negative. They could not find anything to fix, so they let me go home on schedule.

I found out later from the Brain Aneurysm Foundation that there is a rupture every 18 minutes in the US. Of the approximately 27,000 ruptures per year, 40% are fatal. Of those who survive, 60% suffer permanent disabilities. So I was very lucky to get through the first round clean. Of the 18,000 survivors per year, 17% will either die or be disabled from a rebleeding. For those who get a rebleeding, 70% are fatal. Therefore, I am still at risk. But, when you flip this around and look at the positive side, the second round has a 88% survival rate. That’s pretty good and something I can live with. I guess I’m on bonus time now.

Wish me luck!

John Sender, P.E.