Hello! My name is Jessica, and here is my AVM story:
When I was in my last trimester of college at Knox College in Galesburg, IL, I woke up one night with a searing headache. My boyfriend got up to get me an aspirin and when he turned back around, I was having a seizure. I was rushed to the hospital where luckily, the doctor that saw me knew what was going on. He sent me to the hospital in Peoria, IL for treatment. After a CT scan, the doctor saw that I had an arterial-venous malformation (AVM) in the back of my brain, near my brain stem. The doctor said it was inoperable. The team put a shunt in my head to drain the excess fluid. I spent 2 weeks in the hospital in Peoria before being sent home to St. Louis to recuperate before returning to school. Before that happened, though, I had another seizure and I was rushed to the St. Louis University hospital, where Dr. Abdelroff works. Dr. Abdelroff is one of the top brain surgeons in the United States and after another CT scan and MRI, Dr. Abdelroff said he thought that he could get to the AVM. It took 3 surgeries for Dr. Abdelroff to completely block the blood flow to the AVM. After the second surgery, though, my expressive language part of my brain was damaged, and the doctor learned that I had expressive aphasia. I was in the ICU at SLU Hospital for 4 weeks. After that time, I was sent to a live in section of the hospital to receive therapies (Speech, Occupational, and Physical). After just two weeks, I was sent home. It took me 6 months to being expressing myself accurately and feeling confident in my expressive language. Now, nearly 10 years later, I work for St. Louis Arc as an Employment Specialist who aids individuals who have disabilities obtain and maintain employment.
Jess,
Hi! Welcome to the site! Thank you for sharing your story. I have moved your post out to its own heading (topic) and you can rename it if you like. I hope that by moving it out, more people will see it and reply.
I can see you’ve got the hang of finding posts and replying, so welcome! I hope we can all support you through your journey, and you through ours!
Very best wishes,
Richard
Thanks, Richard! I’m glad I found this site!
-Jess