Recovering From Amnesia

General Blog
1

When I collapsed to the floor with my cerebral bleed, from
the AVM, I thought I was dying and although this turned out
not to be true as yet...I did for sure have amnesia.

I saw an old movie once about a man with amnesia, and it
was all romantic and fun looking. The star had no memories of who he was or who he was married to and so he found and
became involved with another woman. Really having amnesia
means that you have been within a cat's whisker of being
sent off to the morgue. And often it means that you have
a real chore to recover anywhere near close enough to be
able to live the way you once did.

Even today after years of improvement I have no memories
at all of my first hospital where I had my operation and
also no memories of the first 2-3 weeks at my second hospital. After I was back home my wife drove me to my
first hospital where I thought I would recall something, but no not one solitary memory.

When I got home I had my old memories pretty much back,
but my short term memory was almost totally shot. I would
go to another room on an errand and when I got there had
no clue as to what I had wanted to do. I gave myself mental
chores and lists to memorize and this slowly helped but
it was years getting back close to normal for me. Today
after more than 12 yrs. I am probably 95% back to normal
with my short term memory. Some never get it back.

But it was worth the struggle to come back, and it will be
for you as well. Good things are worth waiting for. My
"second life" to me in many ways is better than my first.
May we all blossom the way it seems that we are supposed to.

2

Hi John and thanks for another great posting. Hey John, starting in May 2011, I was hospitalized for 9 weeks after my burst. I have no memory of my first 5 weeks in the neuro ICU of one hospital and then I spent 4 weeks in rehab at a former hospital. Well, I remembered rehab as if I was a visitor and not a patient! Oh, my husband used FMLA to come every day for the 9 weeks and stayed morning until night. My children came often plus I had other visitors and John, I remembered none of that. Other people told me about my family's activity. I even asked my husband if I was polite for I was conscious but apparently in lala land. Oh, then about 1.5 years later, I had an emergency stay for 1 night in the ICU again and I remembered nothing! My husband remembered it well but not me so I think the brain is an amazing organ. God bless you and yours, John and I will keep reading your postings.
C

3

Hey John, I don’t have any memory of the first four weeks or so of my hospital stay after my brain bled either. Nothing romantic about my amnesia, or at least I don’t remember - yet ;).

I’ve come a long way in nine months, but still have long way to go. I’ll second your sentiment - may we all blossom the way it seems we are supposed to!