Tomorrow marks the fifth anniversary of my cardiac arrests and subsequent acquired hypoxic brain injury. I am still waiting for rehab - I think I can safely say goodbye to any hope of that now. My paralysis is no better really but my Spanish has improved - you may recall I woke from a 17 day coma speaking it despite never having studied it or visited any Spanish-speaking country. Very odd. I am now at B2 which is Intermediate.
My marriage has failed. My wife refuses to get to know the new me and has rejected me as "disgusting" because I sought help for a men's health problem whereas she has a tendency to ignore problems. We share a roof and that is about all. We are going out together for the first time since last December in a week's time... for a flu jab!
I am celebrating alone this year with an Indian takeaway and some London Pride ale. I have sent cards and presents to the paramedics and Resus staff who saved my life.
I guess I am happy to be alive?? I don't really know what I am doing here, however.
Written by
Skulls
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I'm really sorry to hear that you have not been provided with rehab care deserve. Unfortunately, despite supporting principle of NHS 100%, I'm no longer shocked to hear what poor care or no care people are getting.
Hope things get a lot better for you soon.
and enjoy the London Pride. Its one of the things I miss about London as (perhaps not surprisingly) cant seem to get it in Wales.
There are some things the NHS does brilliantly like surgery - I heard from an onlooker at my operation how skilful my heart surgeon was and you would not be able to find the scars on my leg from which he took the vein he used in the bypass. Others, like general practice, I have found to be mediocre at best.
I have some good news for you! If Amazon delivers to your home, you can get London Pride - order fast as it is cut-price! I enjoyed trying Cwrw Haf and Cwrw Braf when visiting the Mon & Brec Canal in 2011. Iechyd da!
Being in Wales ironically is the only place where they brew Brains 🍺 and sell them by the pint. 👍
(Sorry for pointing that out on a Headway brain injury forum, but you do have to look on the bright side 😀 as well as being able to smile at all our multitude of dire issues here ).
It’s tough for sure!! Only hope I can offer is you may surprise the new you as y develope y future?! Make new friends find a new social life? Will be challenging but rewarding when it arrives!! Good luck, stay safe & smile to spite the challenge s!!
Wow! That's quite a long time to be "off world"! Do you remember anything from the down time? In what state did you emerge from it? I think I have a better understanding of "Eternal Life" now.
when i woke up, i had very slurred speech, and lots of difficulty swallowing.
my vision was also very blurry.... and i had poor short term memory.
the first year felt like a lucid nightmare - i felt like nothing was real, and i was living in a fake world.
i had no perception of time. it was not fun.
the vision issues were resolved with glasses - as the cause was severe astigmatism in both eyes that had developed while i was in the coma.
everything else resolved on it's own - save for a very mild balance issue and a slight feeling of 'loopiness' that could be caused by something else which i am currently investigating
They kept me off real food for ages because of a perceived swallowing problem. Eventually I tired of eating sludge based on mashed potato and they okayed other foods, none of which was really solid though.
Like you I had vision problems - I had been blinded by the hypoxia so I was relieved to get anything back. I could make out the headlines of papers but not much else. I went down to opthalmology and they declared there was nothing wrong with my eyes. I'm OK now.
I felt like I was living in two realities. Juergen Klopp (Liverpool FC manager) was a companion in the mirror universe (I got a nice card from the club in real life on my birthday following the hospital treatment). I would go for rides in a vehicle called a "heptochron" which would detach from the body of the hospital at 6am daily.
I had a really awful experience of Intensive Care at St Thomas' - it was like a chamber of horrors and to this day shall we say I have my concerns about the care I received there...
Balance has been off since I returned home and I have frequent wobbly episodes.
Yes, I had to suggest to them that it might be a good idea to scan the brain to see what damage had been caused!!! The whole brain has shrunk and has deep ridges like an old person's brain. I haven't been seen by a neurologist since leaving St Thos' can you believe... So I have no idea what I can expect in the future. Dementia? Parkinson's? Who knows and the NHS doesn't seem to give a s__t! The damage appears to have been across all areas of the brain. I have worked this out by my own deduction rather than medical opinion. My core is paralysed so I have problems moving my legs - putting trousers on is a pantomime. I cannot sit up so taking a bath is impossible and I have to "weeble" to get out of bed. Again, the NHS doesn't care.
i am sorry to hear that you have received such lackluster medical treatment. I am in the US, and i hear all the time about how we need 'free' healthcare - like you have over there in the UK.
unfortunately, so many Americans are ignorant to the reality of the NHS and other public services that are 'free'.
do you blame this paralysis for your episodes of wobbliness? or do you feel that it is related to the brain atrophy?
my MRI showed that i have atrophy as well. However, according to the specialists at UCSF, it is 'minimal, and of unclear clinical significance'. I suppose this is why my life has more or less returned to normal - aside from the aforementioned issues i described above
If it wasn't for the NHS (which isn't free btw; working people pay National Insurance which is 12% of earnings and foreign residents have to pay a lump sum on entry) I wouldn't be alive. I'm sure you have incompetent clinicians in your system as well.
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"anniversary"
Living with someone with a BI
5th year anniversary
Sudden cardiac arrest. 
A lost wife 
