BDette's Recovery Fund

March 22, 2017 started out as a normal day for me.  Little did I know my life would change forever that evening.  I came home from work and as I was getting ready for bed,  I experienced  worse feeling ever.  Pain was shooting from my head to my neck.  I grew nauseous, somehow I made my way to the bathroom where I started to vomit nonstop.  I reached out to a friend for help but she was not available.  I called another friend who arrived at the same time as the paramedics.  After being assessed by paramedics; they said it was just a bad migraine.  My friend took me to Med Clinic.  Luckily the medical staff knew I needed to get to emergency room ASAP.  Upon arrival at hospital I was diagnosed as having a ruptured brain aneurysm.  That night I had an  angiogram..  Next day I had open brain surgery to clip ruptured aneurysm with 2 titanium clips.  I remained in  ICU for nineteen days.  During this time I had numerous lumbar puncture procedures due to fact that fluid kept building up in my brain.  While there I suffered a mild stroke.  I lost strength to my left arm, left leg and lost peripheral vision to my left eye. Once released I returned to emergency room twelve days later.  At this time I was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, this hospital stay was seven days.  Five dys after returning home once again I returned to emergency room.  It was at this time my neurosurgeon advised me I need another surgery to place a shunt . This would help to reroute the fluid building up in my brain.  On May 24, I had shunt operation.  I have regained some of the lost strength to my arm and leg.  However, there is no change to my vision on left eye., my neurosurgeon did advise me that if I do regain my peripheral vision it will be between six months to a year.  I have been doing speech and physical therapy two times a week since May 2. . Presently, I am using a walker to get around.  In order to continue my recovery, I also need to rest so my brain can heal from both my major operations.  What was thought to be a bad migraine turned into  something very unexpected and life changing.  My mother, Olga, has been with me since March 23.  She is my caretaker 24/7, makes sure I get to my doctors appointment, therapy sessions and is helping me on my road to recovery.  My sister, Stacee has also been h ere durng my illness.  She travels to San Antonio from El Paso whenever possible.  I would like to thank everyone for reading my story and I would appreciate any contributions.