When it rains.........

[HumorMe]

it fucking pours!!!!

Got some disturbing news this afternoon. My wife's sister was visiting in Charleston, SC and had a brain anuerism(sp?). She woke up this morning with a bad headache and it progressively got worse until she started throwing up. She is currently in the intensive care unit at the hospital there. My wife is teaching summer school for the next two weeks and there is no provisions for any abscenses on her part. We are currently trying to figure out when to go down there. Right now, it looks like the earliest we can leave is at 11:30 in the morning. Prognosis is not that good. They had to drill a hole in the base of her skull and put a drainage tube to relieve the pressure on her brain. They have her heavily sedated and she drifts in and out of consciousness but she did recognize some members of her immediately family. They are doing a MRI Monday morning to locate the problem area and then they will decide what to do from there. These next few days are going to kind of scary to say the least. To top it all off, her daughter is getting married in two weeks. I think they are going to call it off though. Ironically, my wife's mother died right before one of her daughters was married in 1981....at the exact same age of my sister-in-law. Strange thing!

If you are a religious person, say a prayer for her and her family as they will definitely need it in the coming weeks and probably months. Thanks for your prayers and wishes.

 

[paradox]

Im sorry to hear that, what is it exactly that causes a condition such as hers?

 

[HumorMe]

Im sorry to hear that, what is it exactly that causes a condition such as hers?

I'm not a doctor but I believe it has something to do with the strength of the blood vessel walls. I might be wrong on this assumption but I think if there is something wrong with a particular part of the blood vessel, the pressure of the blood flowing through the vessel causes that area to start expanding and forming a sac or a pouch of blood until it reaches a point then it bursts causing blood to saturate that particular area. I'm probably wrong but I will do some research on the Net and see what I can come up with. She also has high blood pressure which throws another kink into the mix. If the body repairs that particular area without medical intervention, that same area could again rupture and then it would be extreme trouble and probably instant death in most cases. I talked to my best friend who is a medical doctor tonight and he said that usually 75-85% of these types of anuerisms are fatal so it will be touch and go until later on in the week.

 

[SheHuLK]

I'm so sorry to hear about your sister-in-law. i will keep her in my prayers.

 

[Night Fly]

I will say a huge prayer for her. My uncle survived a major brain stem aneurism a few years back...and has had remarkable recovery.

Don't give up on her...

 

[paradox]

I'm not a doctor but I believe it has something to do with the strength of the blood vessel walls. I might be wrong on this assumption but I think if there is something wrong with a particular part of the blood vessel, the pressure of the blood flowing through the vessel causes that area to start expanding and forming a sac or a pouch of blood until it reaches a point then it bursts causing blood to saturate that particular area. I'm probably wrong but I will do some research on the Net and see what I can come up with. She also has high blood pressure which throws another kink into the mix. If the body repairs that particular area without medical intervention, that same area could again rupture and then it would be extreme trouble and probably instant death in most cases. I talked to my best friend who is a medical doctor tonight and he said that usually 75-85% of these types of anuerisms are fatal so it will be touch and go until later on in the week.

Kinda off topic but I wonder if steroids and/or stimulants could contribute to a condition such as hers?

 

[Pamela]

I am so sorry.

My prayers are with her and your family..

I wonder about artificial sweetners and anti-depressants?
The reason I say this is because I knew someone who died
of the same thing.

 

[vixenbabe]

How sad! You and your family are in my prayers , HumorMe!

 

[HumorMe]

Thanks everybody for the words of encouragement.

She is having a MRI as I type this. We are leaving in about an hour to go there. I was doing some research on the Net last night and what I wrote in my second response on this thread is basically how anuerysms form and the fatality rate is pretty high. She seems to be doing better this morning though which is encouraging. Time will tell though. Thanks again for everybody's responses. I will update when I get back!

 

[frorider6]

As advanced as we think we are, we don't know dick about the brain. Drilling a hole and inserting a drainage tube, while a huge advance, is still a crude method. Can you imagine the leaps medical science would take if even half the money spent on national defense was diverted to research.


Pipe dreams.....


Hope she's okay.

 

[HumorMe]

As advanced as we think we are, we don't know dick about the brain. Drilling a hole and inserting a drainage tube, while a huge advance, is still a crude method. Can you imagine the leaps medical science would take if even half the money spent on national defense was diverted to research.


Pipe dreams.....


Hope she's okay.

I agree with you fro. It does sound very crude to do something like that but it will serve as two purposes. One is that it will drain the fluids that were building up pressure on the brain. The second purpose is that each hour they empty the container the fluid is draining into and measure it and analyze it to see if the bleeding has subsided.

Anytime the brain is involved in a medical procedure, the odds of something major happening skyrockets. Our only hope at this point is that the MRI will reveal where the bleeding is coming from and it is coming from an area that can be operated on easily (comparitively speaking) and repaired. Maybe one day those leaps and bounds will occur but until them I guess we are just SOL.

Thanks fro!

 

[frorider6]

Just so anyone isn't confused by my comment about National defense spending...

I don't wish that we cut spending. I wish we didn't have to spend the money in the first place.