Anniversary to Celebrate

[alf jessup]

Hi all

 

Alf here celebrating tonight 22 June 2017.

 

3 years ago on this night as some may remember my eldest daughter (31yo) at the time suffered her almost fatal brain aneurysm.

 

Given up for dead by all in the medical profession at the time she proved them wrong and survived, not only did she survive she came back to about 98% of what she was before the event

 

As some in the medical field said after her long recovery that she is 1 in 3 million who come back to almost the same as they were before the event

 

85 out of 100 don't survive it and very few come out without a severe side effect i.e paralysis, blindness, speech ect from the type and location of the bleed she had

 

Well I'm happy as is the rest of the family and friends as you could well imagine.

 

MELISSA is leading a normal life 3 years on, back at work, being a great mum to her kids, a good wife to her husband (who mind you went through equally as much hell as we did at the time), being a great friend to her friends and best of all being a beautiful family member to her family that adore her (us)

 

I went looking for my A Parents Nightmare post but some how i couldn't access it to update it

 

So guys and girls life is pretty good I say for us and unfortunately not for others that have gone through this Nightmare we have

 

And for that I think and feel for them as I know how hard it was

 

Cheers

 

Alf

 

 

[storchy neil]

bloody beautiful story alf yeh remember it well when you went missing that time from this forum at that time all is well then alf neil

 

 

[red750]

Alf, your thread was transferred to the Female Health forum on Whats Up Australia.

 

 

[onetrack]

That's a real bit of good news in an otherwise disastrous event, Alf. Glad to hear she is 98%, that must be a wonderful relief to you and your family.

 

Middle nephew has just endured a similar event. His wife (42) effectively dropped dead in front of him on a Saturday morning, as they were getting dressed to go out.

 

What is amazing is that she had no medical history of note, no family heart problems history - nothing.

 

He did some low-flying in his 4WD down to the local hospital (6 mins, he reckoned, and up to 170kmh in light traffic!), and straight into the ER. Reckoned he couldn't afford to wait for an ambulance.

 

The staff in the ER were fantastic, they revived her no less than 5 times as they raced her to another major hospital.

 

Then the docs couldn't figure out what was wrong. She was lucky in that there were 3 top heart surgeons on duty that day, and they all went to work on her.

 

They initially thought there was a blockage and tried to insert a stent. That failed, and they then realised her left ventricle wasn't working, and was filling with congealed blood.

 

They cut her open and were horrified to find a 3cm tear in her left ventricle. The docs reckoned they'd never seen anyone still alive with that much heart damage.

 

They installed a Heartmate 3 pump (a cool bit of gear), and she is one of the first in Australia to receive it. They stitch a grommet in the bottom of the heart and slide the pump in, it's just a little centrifugal pump, driven by a handbag-sized battery.

 

She spent 5 weeks in intensive care, the damage she endured was extensive. Her lungs filled with fluid, she bloated up to 85kgs (she's normally 48kgs), and she reckoned the worst part was the medics sucking all the fluid from her lungs.

 

She's back home now, 100% alert and just as cheeky as ever, but still housebound, and having to undergo major therapy daily to counter muscle atrophy from too long in bed.

 

The efforts are concentrated now on seeing if her heart repairs itself - a whole new ball game that the Heartmate pump now allows. Previously, dead heart muscle was believed to never be able to recover.

 

If her heart doesn't rebuild, she's on the shortlist for a heart transplant - something she doesn't really want, but she knows, is quite on the cards.

 

The nephew has always been the luckiest family member - and it turns out they had a major insurance policy that covered everything, including heart attack, trauma, hospitalisation, the lot.

 

My style of luck would be the insurance company would refuse to pay out - but the nephew said they paid out without a quibble, and the payout was well in excess of $1M, thus easing the trauma by a large degree.

 

The next 6-12 months will be a whole new ball game for them all, they are hard workers, hard players, and do everything to the max. Certainly going to be some major readjustments for them, it will be an interesting time.

 

Best part is, 3 kids still have their mother, and I reckon they appreciate her a lot more today.

 

 

[Nightmare]

Hey Alf, it is nice to hear about a fellow Brain Aneurysm survivor. I actually suffered one of them about 10 years ago. Thanks to the fantastic medical professionals and technology, I suffered no ill effects of that very deadly condition. Before the event, I hadn't even heard of the condition. I was lucky enough to have symptoms, and a switched on doctor put me on the right path to find and fix it. Lucky they picked it up before it burst, and I under went a procedure new to Australia.

 

After I recovered I started hearing about a lot of people who were just dropping dead of them.

 

Your daughter and myself are very lucky to still be here.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I can appreciate all you went through Alf. We came home from a weekend away at our farm and 30 mins later while the wife was hanging out the washing she heard her mother making noises from her granny flat in our back yard. She went there and found her on the floor. She called me over and we got the ambulance. Turns out she had been there on the floor at least 8 hours or more and she had had a stroke. She couldnt really move and when she spoke it was just gobble de gook that was coming out. I am pleased to say that she has made a amazing recovery in 2 months to be about 90% and her speech is pretty good , not perfect though but her right side is very weak but she can get around. Its amazing how fickle these attacks can be.

 

I have learnt a lot about the causes etc and the interesting part is a Arythmia. That is where your heart has a uneven beat pulse. If you have ever had a ECG the spikes you see on that are always the same distance apart. With arythmia you get a occasional pulse that is a bit longer or shorter. This apparently causes the blood that gets mixed in the top chambers of the heart to develop clots and its these clots that spin off and head for the brain. This is what happened to Marjorie. It is not unusual in older people...Marjorie is 80 years old but the stroke nurses also told me of many cases of much younger people even as young as 20. So you may notice now when you go to the doctors you get asked to have more ECG's...which I have noticed myself and I believe this is why. Marjorie is now on a oral drug to combat the clots as they cant do anything about the arythmia. I just thought I would elaborate my experience and maybe others will know a little bit more about some of the issues why it can happen and also why it is not necessarily age dependant. The outcomes after these strokes though seems to be a lottery from what I have seen and been told. The brain is such a sensitive thing that it depends on what blood vessel is affected and how long for and how much swelling there was in the brain. If you do have a stroke and have a good outcome afterwards you should consider yourself to have won the lottery because it seems these are the type of odds you get when you have one.

 

 

[alf jessup]

That's a real bit of good news in an otherwise disastrous event, Alf. Glad to hear she is 98%, that must be a wonderful relief to you and your family.Middle nephew has just endured a similar event. His wife (42) effectively dropped dead in front of him on a Saturday morning, as they were getting dressed to go out.

 

What is amazing is that she had no medical history of note, no family heart problems history - nothing.

 

He did some low-flying in his 4WD down to the local hospital (6 mins, he reckoned, and up to 170kmh in light traffic!), and straight into the ER. Reckoned he couldn't afford to wait for an ambulance.

 

The staff in the ER were fantastic, they revived her no less than 5 times as they raced her to another major hospital.

 

Then the docs couldn't figure out what was wrong. She was lucky in that there were 3 top heart surgeons on duty that day, and they all went to work on her.

 

They initially thought there was a blockage and tried to insert a stent. That failed, and they then realised her left ventricle wasn't working, and was filling with congealed blood.

 

They cut her open and were horrified to find a 3cm tear in her left ventricle. The docs reckoned they'd never seen anyone still alive with that much heart damage.

 

They installed a Heartmate 3 pump (a cool bit of gear), and she is one of the first in Australia to receive it. They stitch a grommet in the bottom of the heart and slide the pump in, it's just a little centrifugal pump, driven by a handbag-sized battery.

 

She spent 5 weeks in intensive care, the damage she endured was extensive. Her lungs filled with fluid, she bloated up to 85kgs (she's normally 48kgs), and she reckoned the worst part was the medics sucking all the fluid from her lungs.

 

She's back home now, 100% alert and just as cheeky as ever, but still housebound, and having to undergo major therapy daily to counter muscle atrophy from too long in bed.

 

The efforts are concentrated now on seeing if her heart repairs itself - a whole new ball game that the Heartmate pump now allows. Previously, dead heart muscle was believed to never be able to recover.

 

If her heart doesn't rebuild, she's on the shortlist for a heart transplant - something she doesn't really want, but she knows, is quite on the cards.

 

The nephew has always been the luckiest family member - and it turns out they had a major insurance policy that covered everything, including heart attack, trauma, hospitalisation, the lot.

 

My style of luck would be the insurance company would refuse to pay out - but the nephew said they paid out without a quibble, and the payout was well in excess of $1M, thus easing the trauma by a large degree.

 

The next 6-12 months will be a whole new ball game for them all, they are hard workers, hard players, and do everything to the max. Certainly going to be some major readjustments for them, it will be an interesting time.

 

Best part is, 3 kids still have their mother, and I reckon they appreciate her a lot more today.

Onetrack

That is great news

 

Glad to hear she is ok

 

Never know what is around the corner, she was fit, healthy and not one sign of anything wrong with her prior to the event

 

Had dinner that night, put her plate in the sink and walked out in to the lounge, looked at her husband and said " something's going on in my head that is not right" and then dropped to the floor and the fun then started for her

 

She doesn't remember basically the next month and a half after that

 

21 days in intensive care atthe Alfred Hospital , 3 odd weeks in a general ward then 3 months in rehab at Caulfield then a long recovery back home

 

Yes some of us are lucky and I consider our family one of those

 

Alf

 

 

[alf jessup]

I can appreciate all you went through Alf. We came home from a weekend away at our farm and 30 mins later while the wife was hanging out the washing she heard her mother making noises from her granny flat in our back yard. She went there and found her on the floor. She called me over and we got the ambulance. Turns out she had been there on the floor at least 8 hours or more and she had had a stroke. She couldnt really move and when she spoke it was just gobble de gook that was coming out. I am pleased to say that she has made a amazing recovery in 2 months to be about 90% and her speech is pretty good , not perfect though but her right side is very weak but she can get around. Its amazing how fickle these attacks can be.I have learnt a lot about the causes etc and the interesting part is a Arythmia. That is where your heart has a uneven beat pulse. If you have ever had a ECG the spikes you see on that are always the same distance apart. With arythmia you get a occasional pulse that is a bit longer or shorter. This apparently causes the blood that gets mixed in the top chambers of the heart to develop clots and its these clots that spin off and head for the brain. This is what happened to Marjorie. It is not unusual in older people...Marjorie is 80 years old but the stroke nurses also told me of many cases of much younger people even as young as 20. So you may notice now when you go to the doctors you get asked to have more ECG's...which I have noticed myself and I believe this is why. Marjorie is now on a oral drug to combat the clots as they cant do anything about the arythmia. I just thought I would elaborate my experience and maybe others will know a little bit more about some of the issues why it can happen and also why it is not necessarily age dependant. The outcomes after these strokes though seems to be a lottery from what I have seen and been told. The brain is such a sensitive thing that it depends on what blood vessel is affected and how long for and how much swelling there was in the brain. If you do have a stroke and have a good outcome afterwards you should consider yourself to have won the lottery because it seems these are the type of odds you get when you have one.

Kyle Comm's

Great news for your mother Inlaw

 

Yep I consider I've won the lottery

 

Hate to think how much I may have changed if my daughter didn't make it as I was not a happy person at the time

 

Alf

 

 

[alf jessup]

Hey Alf, it is nice to hear about a fellow Brain Aneurysm survivor. I actually suffered one of them about 10 years ago. Thanks to the fantastic medical professionals and technology, I suffered no ill effects of that very deadly condition. Before the event, I hadn't even heard of the condition. I was lucky enough to have symptoms, and a switched on doctor put me on the right path to find and fix it. Lucky they picked it up before it burst, and I under went a procedure new to Australia.After I recovered I started hearing about a lot of people who were just dropping dead of them.

 

Your daughter and myself are very lucky to still be here.

So true Nightmare

Until this happened to her I had no idea how many young people die from this let alone middle aged and elderly

 

I was gobsmacked when the surgeon said it was quite common in young people to suffer these

 

We were lucky

 

Very damn lucky in the end

 

Alf

 

 

[spacesailor]

Congratulations.

 

I didn't think there where so many!,. Lost my neighbor, 37 minute wait for the ambulance, normally, a 7 minute drive & was pronounced deceased on arrival at the hospital.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[alf jessup]

Congratulations.I didn't think there where so many!,. Lost my neighbor, 37 minute wait for the ambulance, normally, a 7 minute drive & was pronounced deceased on arrival at the hospital.

spacesailor

Sorry to hear spacesailor

We were lucky, Matt was still on the phone to 000 when the ambos arrived within 5 mins of the call being placed

 

Triage nurse at Emergency was on the phone to a surgeon who was not on call that night apologising for calling him but asking what the first thing they should do after explaining her symptoms to him (ambulance was still at her home stabilising her while this was happening)

 

How do I know this, the surgeon she called is one of my best friends who at the time did not know it was my daughter and didn't find out until next morning but she was already in the Alfred by then for which he had told ER to inchubate her and prepare to transfer her as They would not be able to handle what was coming in

 

Yes we were very lucky

 

All the stars linden up for us that night

 

 

[onetrack]

It's surprising the number of young people who end up suffering strokes from drug use. It's a lot more common than generally believed. The health professionals will soon tell you the numbers.

 

My stepson and stepdaughter, in their early 40's, each have a couple of friends who have suffered strokes due to their drug useage.

 

Stepson and stepdaughter are 100% anti-drugs, and never touch them, but they are right into music, and it seems the music industry has more than its fair share of drug users.

 

Drug, alcohol abuse tied to early-life strokes

 

 

[alf jessup]

It's surprising the number of young people who end up suffering strokes from drug use. It's a lot more common than generally believed. The health professionals will soon tell you the numbers.My stepson and stepdaughter, in their early 40's, each have a couple of friends who have suffered strokes due to their drug useage.

Stepson and stepdaughter are 100% anti-drugs, and never touch them, but they are right into music, and it seems the music industry has more than its fair share of drug users.

 

Drug, alcohol abuse tied to early-life strokes

Just for the record

My daughters was from a birth defect they said she always has been a non smoker and non drinker persay and definitely not a drug user

 

Hers was what the surgeons called a brain explosion it was that big

 

 

[Nightmare]

It's surprising the number of young people who end up suffering strokes from drug use. It's a lot more common than generally believed. The health professionals will soon tell you the numbers.My stepson and stepdaughter, in their early 40's, each have a couple of friends who have suffered strokes due to their drug useage.

Stepson and stepdaughter are 100% anti-drugs, and never touch them, but they are right into music, and it seems the music industry has more than its fair share of drug users.

 

Drug, alcohol abuse tied to early-life strokes

Also for the record, I never touched drugs either, nor am I a big drinker, and have never smoked. The docs really don't know what causes them. They told me that maybe I was born with it.

[onetrack]

I have little doubt that a proportion of people are born with an artery weakness in their skull, and it is something that you wouldn't know about, and the docs wouldn't find, until after it burst. It's the luck of the draw.

 

 

[Geoff13]

Alf it just seems like a few months not years.

 

I remember reading all your posts as you and your family went through this.

 

So pleased that there was such a good outcome after all you and your family went through.

 

Hopefully we members of the forum were able to provide you with some little bit of support through the dark days.

 

It does show with the amount of support how good these forums can be for people who are feeling down and isolated.

 

 

[alf jessup]

Alf it just seems like a few months not years.I remember reading all your posts as you and your family went through this.

So pleased that there was such a good outcome after all you and your family went through.

 

Hopefully we members of the forum were able to provide you with some little bit of support through the dark days.

 

It does show with the amount of support how good these forums can be for people who are feeling down and isolated.

Thanks Geoff

Believe it or not I felt a lot of support from members on here and it was good to be able to translate what at the time I was going through on a daily basis, it was sort of a release but frightening also

 

It was a tough time at the time and it changed a few things for the better for me by what happened

 

I still pinch myself that we got so much of her back when in reality she shouldn't be here at all with us today

 

I never have a bad day these days not that I really did before hand, I've always been a person who if a problem arises I work on a solution to fix it but this I had no way of working on it and felt so helpless

 

I'm still waiting to win lotto lol, but I won a jackpot already

 

Alf