Firstly thank you once again to those of you who have left kind comments for me.
I would like to relate the story of my wife's battle with an AVM and her untimely death at 48 years old.
I have many unanswered questions that i hope someone here may be able to help me with. I would also like to make people aware of the circumstances surrounding my wife's death so someone may learn from it.
My wifes AVM was "discoverd" when she had a massive bleed on 25th of December 2008.
She initially had it coiled and further treatment was planned. It was planned that she would have Gamma knife surgery in stages as the AVM was considered inoperable as it was.
Her most recent Gamma surgery was in January last year, it was considered that her treatment was going well and she had an 80% chance of it being treated successfully to enable surgery.
In April last year my wife's health seemed to deteriorate. At the time the Doctor was trying to wean her off Dexamethasone and my wife was'nt coping well.
My wife was on this steroid almost constantly as i recall.
My wife's health got worse and by the end of June last year she was constantly vomiting.
I had the Doctor out to her on a number of occasions he felt it was something like vertigo and prescribed drugs accordingly.
I was concerned that my wife was unable to keep any food down the Doctor assured me that as long as she was drinking it was ok.
I was told on a number of occasions by her Doctors that the fact that she was not able to keep food down was not a problem and that i was to encourage her to drink, this was most important.
My wifes health got worse, she was not able to recognise my daughters, was having hallucinations and just before her final admission to hospital became doubly incontinent.
On her admission to hospital at the end of last August she suffered a heart attack which left her in a coma from which she never recovered.
My wife was in a coma for two weeks and my daughters and i had to make the decision to withdraw life support.
My wife died in September last year.
In the final admission to hospital despite many tests no one could tell us what was wrong. An autopsy was performed which was inconclusive.
An inquest was opened and my wife's brain was removed for further investigation, i was given the option of burying my wife without her brain or waiting until it was returned in a number of weeks after further investigation. I decided to wait.
At the inquest the cause of death was recorded as being Wernicke's Encephalopathy.
This is a disease associated with poor diet, it is usually seen in alchoholics, It is a deficiency in vitamin B.
This is what causes me so much hurt, my wife had endured all those horrible treatments associated with her AVM and all seemed to be going well and yet she died of a simple vitamin deficiency it seems.
I have as you can imagine looked for answers, trying to make connections between her treatment and the dexamethasone, did they contribute to her death.
My biggest regret is believing that inspite of her not being able to keep food down and therefore getting no nutrients or vitamins she would be ok, after all she was drinking water was'nt she.
I thank you if you have taken the time to read this, i would welcome any insight you may have on our story.
Clive