I shot awake at two in the morning with a terrible headache. This headache was not like the migraines I was used to getting and had been popping motrin for, for close to five years. I had two choices, try to go to work and wait tables in this pain or go to the emergency room and get something done for the pain. After two hours and a heated discussion with my husband I decided on the emergency room. When I finally saw the doctor he asked me to describe my headache. I told him it was the worst headache I had ever had in my life. I figured he would order me a dose of morphine or some other strong pain killer and send me home but he surprised me. I guess I said the magic words because he told me he was ordering a CT scan to check for a hemorrhage, and if that turned up nothing he would order a spinal tap. At this point I was a little nervous but I wouldn’t have imagined that anything serious was wrong with me. A while later I was laid out on a CAT scan table with an IV in my arm and images being taken of my brain, when the technician taking the images stops and says he has to inject something called contrast. They thought they saw something, but they needed to inject the dye to get a better look. I am a person prone to anxiety so the news that they had seen something set off a mild panic however, I held fast to the feeling that nothing serious could be wrong with me. When it was late enough that my husband would have been awake I called him and told him all that had happened. He got to the hospital just in time to hear the news the E.R. Doctor had to give me. I can’t imagine a worse way to deliver a blow like an avm than this ER Doctor did. He starts out by saying that the news was good and bad. It was good that I didn’t have a bleed and would not need a spinal tap, but bad that I had a very large something or rather. I left the Emergency room very scared and confused and still unsure of exactly what was wrong with me or what I needed to do next. I felt alone and terrified. I was in a very rocky relationship and had four children depending on me. One thing was certain. I had a bumpy road ahead of me.
I enjoyed reading your story Jess. I liked how you captured getting the news. I don’t really remember getting the news like you did. I’m sure you have shown a lot of courage and strength. Thanks for writing this::))
bumpy here, bumpy continues - my AVM came with a huge stroke, after divorcing and changing countries. came again, a bleed when my son was three, and my last bleed 16 years ago, as my grandson was just born. I am still around - 61 - road has been more bumpy that I am willing to share - but - related to what you wrote and hope that you will let us know how it went, and how it is going - V