My Journey through a Brain Hemhorrage ~ December 2009

For about three weeks before Christmas I was not feeling well, with headaches but I was figuring it to be stress related with trying to complete work before the holidays and the additional effort that goes into preparing everything for Christmas.

I got through Christmas but by Boxing Day I had two successive days of severe headache to the point where I did not sleep all night with the excruciating pain. On the second day I asked my husband to take me to emergency at the Queensway Carleton Hospital. I told him to go home because I thought it would take all day because they would probably not think much about a headache.

I was wrong and was quickly sent for a CAT scan which revealed an abnormality with my pituitary gland. At that point they did not think there was a bleed, but they called over to the Neurosurgeons at the Civic Hospital and had me immediately transferred. Problems in the pituitary can prove fatal.

I immediately underwent an MRI which indicated that there was bleeding in addition to the abnormal pituitary. The surgeons were not sure if my pituitary gland was bleeding from the inside or whether there was an artery behind it that was bleeding.

On the next day I was scheduled for an angiogram test, which is where they insert a tube through a vein in your leg up through to your brain. Then they inject dye and take all sorts of pictures. There are a number of dangers with taking this test such as stroke, embolism etc. After the test you have to lie still for four hours flat on your back so that these things do not occur.

All went well, and the test revealed that there was no bleeding from veins or arteries. Excellent news, I did not have the same condition that my mother had. She had died from a cerebral aneurism at age 52. The next bit of good news is that the bleeding was not coming from inside my pituitary gland which is the potentially fatal condition. The bleed appears to be outside the pituitary, and the doctors are now thinking that I may have had a benign tumor that has bled out.

Since the beginning I have had three teams managing my case – neurosurgery, endocrinology and ophthalmology. The endocrinology group has been doing excessive testing on the function of my pituitary gland which manages a whole bunch of functions in your body such as hormones, temperature, growth, reproductive system etc. The ophthalmology group is looking into any issues with my eyesight because a pituitary bleed can affect your eyesight.

Apparently whatever it is that has happened is very rare, and the doctors are somewhat perplexed, calling me a “puzzle”. I think they like trying to solve puzzles. I have had so many blood tests and have been hooked up to so many machines I feel a bit like a pin cushion. However, at this point I am a very grateful pin cushion.

All in all things look very positive. All the test results so far on my pituitary function are coming back normal. There are additional results to come in, and more tests to be done. I have to undergo more blood tests and appointments with specialists as an out-patient, and I have to have a second MRI test prior to meeting again with the Chief Neurosurgeon at the Civic. My neurosurgeon’s name is Doctor Da Silva and apparently he is the best.

The MRI test is where they put you inside this big machine and inject dye intravenously into your brain, and then take pictures. The MRI and angiogram tests are the Cadillac tests of the health care system, and provide the doctors with the most information. The angiogram is the most conclusive. They use these tests also for heart etc.

After the second MRI they will decide if they need to do surgery. It is quite possible now that I will not need surgery at all because if my pituitary gland is functioning normally, and there is no further bleeding or evidence of other things, they will just let the blood re-absorb into my system and I just carry on with my life.

I should pretty much have the full diagnosis and prognosis by February 10th.

This has been quite a journey for me, a roller coaster ride of emotions and physical experiences. A sad side note is that I was at the Civic at the time the police man was shot, and the situation within and outside the hospital were far from normal.

I now have such a profound respect for the police, the paramedics and all the people who work in the health care system, based on my more intimate experience during this time period of the inner workings of the healthcare system and its supporting systems (paramedic and police). I am so impressed to say that the health care system is not broken when your case is serious and potentially fatal. I have a lot of thank you notes to write, and maybe even a few letters to the Provincial and Federal governments.

I did not have much to do during this time except stay pretty still and observe everything that was going on around me, and I did that. I learned so much, and I feel like I have lived a lifetime in the past couple of weeks.

I am grateful for my wonderful family and friends who were there helping me through this. My hubby and beautiful sister Marcie barely left me alone, spending long hours at the hospital.

This journey enabled me to deal with my own fear and my own mortality. My mother and her sister both died at the age of 52 from brain bleeds that were sudden and fatal. At first I thought this was my fate too, but it seems I have more work to do here on earth, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to continue to live, love and grow.

Happy New Year and Love to all
Anna Lapointe