My mother suffered an explosive brain aneurysm (aka brain haemorrhage) a couple of years ago. She survived (much to the surprise of the doctors) but she is not the woman she once was.
On the night of her haemorrhage, several hours after the haemorrhage, I had a conversation with her which has stayed with me because it was so surreal!
Me: Hi mum, how are you feeling?
Mum: Sore
Me: (checking the extent of the brain damage): You know Mary is coming home?
Mum (recognising my sister’s name): Mary is coming home? Is she bringing the kids?
Me: (relieved that she knows who I am talking about): No
Mum (Disappointed): Oh!
So far so good, I try probing a little further, mentioning the name of a good friend of mine, living in London at this time.
Me: And Amanda is coming home next week
Mum: Little Amanda?
Me: Yep!
Mum: That’s nice.
Ok, so she knows my sister and a friend of mine – now to see how aware she is of her current situation
Me: Do you know what happened to you?
Mum: No
Me: You had a brain haemorrhage
Mum: Oh. That’s serious.
Me: Yes, that’s why mary is coming home
Mum: Mary is coming home? Is she bringing the kids?
Me: Uh oh!
So did she recover any of her short-term memory?
Sorry Keith,
I should have clarified that – she is significantly better now.
Thanks for asking,
Tom.
Reminds me of my grandmother, though in her case she would confuse me with my cousin who is 20 years my senior
I’m very sorry to hear that Michele.
It is extremely distressing to see someone you love affected by brain injuries (or any kind of illness, really), isn’t it?
Yeah, I have a buddy who had an aneurism a few years back and conversations with him can still seem like they’re on a loop. You learn to adjust though.
Hi, A couple of years ago, I had a brain aneuyrsim burst and many surgeries for the shunt which kept messing up as a result. The vascular coil I got worked really well, no problems. It is was the hydrocepallus shunt that was and is the problem. I am glad to read your site blog cause it makes me feel better to think that I can recover mentally alot more. I still have a lot of problems with time and memory. I still can’t tell if something happened this morning or a few days ago etc. I can’t really remember what happened in the morning by 4:00 PM daily. It is almost like clock work. I live with notes and post it notes to the point of absurdity now. Any suggestions? Val