On Sunday afternoon May 23 2010 my dad took a shower he had gotten out and was stumbling and slurring his words and couldn’t stand up and had no control over his arms and legs and said his head hurt "and was the worst pain in his life" and was extremely dizzy and couldn’t see much and was like begging for help he made it into the living room and was laying on the floor and got really sick and started throwing up, mom called me and I went over there he was very pale and still throwing up and very dizzy and head still hurt really bad at this time I was thinking it was an aneurysm so we called an ambulance and I followed them to the hospital as soon as he got there they went through all the question and the nurse did blood work and the doc came in and ordered EKG, and CT, a few minutes later they did the EKG before they were even finished x-ray was there waiting to do a chest x-ray, then CT was waiting to take him for that at this time he told me to go ahead and go home cause we wouldn’t know anything for a while so I left (wish I never would have) to go get my daughter situated for bed and was going to go back up there about 15 minutes before I had already planned on going back up I got a phone call from the nurse saying that mediflight was about 15 minutes out and they were mediflighting him out to Castro Valley which is 2 hours from here driving, so I rushed up to the hospital to see him and find out what going on before they took him they said that there was bleeding in his brain and he needed to see a good neurosurgeon (even though I had a feeling it was an aneurysm I didn’t prepare myself for anything) so mediflight came and met all of them and they said he was going to a great hospital and would be in good hand they were very nice and let me go on the helipad to say goodbye as they loaded him, they took him. As soon as he got to Castro Valley they did another CT and put him in ICU. The next morning they did an angiogram and I went up there he was still pretty drowsy from the procedure and the doc came in and told him it was a Venous Malformation in the Cerebellum, and explained that they have to wait for the swelling to go down before they can do anything and next week they will check the swelling and do an MRI to see it and what they plan to do it do an embolism which is similar to then angiogram and feed a catheter to the brain not just the base this time like with the dye before but to the base of the malformation and put a glue substance in there to cut off the blood supply to it, then he will have to go through radiation, before I left that day the neurologist showed me the angiogram and explained what was going on with it. The procedure is very risky the catheter can go though the vein or artery and cause another bleed or hemorrhage or the glue can put too much pressure on the brain and cause damage. He is still dizzy and having a constant headache they have him on seizure medication and pain medication. Today May 30, 2010 looks like the procedure will be on this coming Thursday June 3 2010, then two weeks after they will start radiation. Not sure if they are going to release him to come home or keep him as an inpatient since he would be so far away from treatment and this doctor does not see outpatients.
Denise…our daughter had an AVM in the cereellum and had 5 embolizations as part of her course of treatment. Please feel free to ask questions. They are very exacting on the placement of the cathether before they place the glue and will inject a drug first to check to make sure the placement is correct. Your father will be partially awake and will be able to provide input, plus they will be monitoring all of his brain waves to ensure everything is good before they place the glue.
Denise, I am truly sorry that your Dad and family are going through this… When I found out about my nephew having a AVM, It was a shock. Same thing started out as the worse headache… It sounds like your Dad Is In a good Hospital… And that,s Important… Ask a lot of questions, which I am sure your family Is doing. Keep us posted…My Prayers for your Family.
Best wishes for your dad and my prayers for you to have the strength to go through all of this.
Take care,
Debbie
Denise,
I had an AVM bleed in my cerebellum too, I had the stroke (bleed) in Nov but they did not find the AVM with the first angiogram in Nov. They finally found it in february and i had brain surgery to remove it on April 2. I had surgical difficulties, and my brain swelled so i would up in ICU for more than 10 days, but I survived it and the dizziness and severe unbalanced feelings are slowly going away. I walked with a walker for a few weeks after surgery then used cane and now i can walk better, without cane, but not nirmally yet. But Im so much better. Have they told you how large the VM is? the more exact location (how deep?) and did they explain why regular surgery is not an option? (im assuming because of the size and or location, but they should be explaining this to you, make sure they do if they haven’t) Doctors can run in and out a lot and it is hard to think of all the questions you need to ask, it is difficult for the patient as well as the familiy that is for sure. Lots of people here have had embolizations, I have not had to because my AVM was smaller, but my bleed was pretty large and scary so i recognize all those awful symptoms your dad had. Its good that they are working on a treatment for him quickly. Keep us posted, Im sending you positive thoughts. Check out my page to see a brief description of what happened to me. Let me know if i can help more.
My dads embo is tomorrow morning at 9:30 am pacific, there are giving him general anethesia.
I’ll be praying for a very successful embo for your dad tomorrow.
Well my dad’s embo went good he was in the OR and under for 5 1/2 hours, the doctor got the majority of it but couldnt get it all and he will need to do it again anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks. The dizzness has gone away and so have the headaches, he is still very tired and week and “woobley” unbalanced. But seems to be making progress just slowly. He has sounded a lot better since he had had it done, tonight he didnt seem to be as good but a better than before the embo. Im not sure what all to expect at this point if this is all normal, of where he should be in recovery process.
I am keeping your father In Prayer,My Nephew had his surgery In October and Is doing well… I look forward to your updates,
Glad your father is doing better.
Take care,
Debbie
I’m worried that he may be becoming depressed or giving up. He doesn’t want to get up out of bed or sit in chair or walk unless physical theraypy is there. He doesn’t eat but very little few bites. He use to watch tv a lot and he doesn’t even want to do that… =( is this something that is normal or what should I do? I plan to talk to his doctor about all of it, I’m just so lost and want him to be strong again and get better.
Hi Denise,
From expereince i can say that when I had a stroke in my cerebellum, TV drove me nuts because it was too loud and not easy to watch because everything was still moving for me, like i was seasick. I also slept a lot after the stroke. I have not had an embolization however. But Id guess that being tired and not wanting to handle too much noise like TV might be normal, but you should ask other people here too and like you said the docs too. Also, after surgery I cried to get back to the bed when they made me get up to sit or walk, it was really hard, when you dont feel good and your brain is effected. That said, Im really glad the nurses and physical therapist pushed me, its theri job and mine were good, but they also listened when i said i really needed to get back to bed.