A Mess

In Dec 2002 I had a brain hemorrhage. I had a car accident earlier that day and it was assumed to be that. After hours of bleeding, I had to be given blood. I had lost so much that my head was opened to see why I was still bleeding. Doctors saw the AVM, arteriovenus malformation. It was the cause of the bleed. It was embolized (stopped up with glue). It's sort of like a tumor, only it's blood not tissue. An AVM happens when blood vessels knot up and the wrong type of vessel does another's job. It's a big mess that can cause an even bigger mess. (It's rare and don't worry about getting it. You can't catch it.)

AVMs usually start bleeding way before they are noticed. I was told mine was hours before a car accident. It probably was the cause of my accident. I have heard some bleed months before detection. (An AVM is considered a pre-existing condition and mine was not covered by insurance. Mine was there from birth.)

Records say my "blood pressure was resuscitated." My heart was restarted and I was closed back up. It was thought I'd die then cuz I lost so much blood and records do not state how long I was without heartbeat.

I was in full coma 5-6 weeks. (When I opened my eyes I was labeled as PVS, another type of coma. I am writing this. That should be brought into question.)

In 2004 the AVM was removed in a risky procedure at Stanford University's hospital.  Stanford did at least three embolizations and then a craniotomy was done. The embolizations first shrank the AVM. Feeder blood vessels to the AVM were targeted in smaller operations before the final operation. They were closed off by injecting them with a glue-like substance. A final craniotomy then removed the AVM. The embolizations were done as out-patient. I was admitted for the craniotomy.

I believe it was before Cyber Knife surgery was invented. It would have been a precursor, but it was not directly involved. I did have stereotactic radiosurgery. 

Here's Cyber Knife. My embolizations were out-patient.

 

I went a good nineteen months post bleed with an AVM no one would touch. Only Stanford would do it. The AVM that originally bled and almost killed me, was left there so it could kill me at any minute for nineteen months. That is over a year of I could be dead the next morning. I now don't keep anything and long-term planning has been difficult but is slowly returning.

This video is the same person singing above. The song is about his AVM bleed. He says he has no memory over parts of his. I do have all memory.