December 2

(note: this is a long post, so buckle up...)

One year ago today, on December 2, 2007, I suffered what I believe was a seizure due to a subarachnoid hemorrhage stemming from the rupture of a cerebral aneurysm in the left side of my brain. Basically, a weakened artery wall in my brain ruptured and started bleeding…into my brain.

Immediately after the “seizure,” I experienced severe headaches, nausea, impressively powerful projectile vomiting (no seriously, I was a frickin’ sniper with my puke) and a fever, among other things.

It all started around 2:30pm on Sunday, December 2, 2007. ATL and I had gotten up about 2 hours beforehand after a long Saturday of drinking, football watching and hanging out with friends in downtown LA (we were living in West LA at the time). We were eating left-over pizza and the NY Giants @ Chicago Bears game was on Fox…

(The day before, December 1, 2007, the USC Trojans kicked the fucla bRuins’ ass on their way to clinching their 6th consecutive PAC-10 title and 6th consecutive BCS Bowl birth….so thankfully, the whole ordeal didn’t start the day before, because that would have totally sucked balls.

NB: Along these same lines, I fully expect the Trojans to dismantle the bRuins in every facet of the game this weekend. Opening as 27 point home dogs, the line makers clearly expect the bRuins to put up more of a fight than Notre Dame did this past weekend. Although the Trojans have historically not played very well against the bRuins in the Rose Bowl, and while many seem to have written off this weekend’s game as a formality before USC faces Penn St. in the Rose Bowl, I hope the team realizes that while they control their own destiny at this point, they still need to beat fucla. I think that Coach Carroll will have the team focused and ready to go, especially when you consider that 13-9 debacle 2 years ago…but that’s whole other post…)

So…after eating a few slices of pizza, I tried to sit up from the couch, but I couldn’t….in fact, I sat about halfway up then kinda lost my bearings and fell backwards onto the couch and got really dizzy. Although I don’t recall exactly how it all happened (I don’t recall any immediate pain or anything), I know that:

· I was dizzy and disoriented
· I could hear everything going on around me. I could hear ATL asking me what was wrong and if I felt alright…apparently I had completely zoned out.
· I could hear the game on the TV, as well as the traffic below the balcony.
· Despite this, I couldn’t react to any of it. Although I wanted to tell ATL that I was dizzy and, in my head I was trying to tell her that I was dizzy, I couldn’t get myself to say anything

Following the disorientation, which probably lasted a few seconds (but seemed much longer), I immediately got up and ran to the bathroom to vomit (which actually started from a rather impressive 2-3 feet away from the toilet), which was immediately followed by a noticeable fever and what I describe as THE worst headache you could possibly imagine. There was a constant throbbing and severe pain…like someone was constantly kicking me in the head.

At first, I thought it was severe food poisoning or something, as ATL had put the Frontline flea medicine on Suzy and Dakota that morning, and I thought that I had inadvertently gotten some of that medication on my hands before eating the pizza. But I couldn’t figure out why my body reacted so quickly. I went to see a doctor the next day, and he just told me to stay home for a few days and drink plenty of fluids. However, the headaches were so bad that I couldn’t sleep and I was really dehydrated from all of the vomiting. During that time, I couldn’t eat or drink that much. So, finally, 2 days later, I asked ATL to take me to the emergency room. I figured they would give me an IV to rehydrate me, I’d get some rest and I’d be ready to go in a day or 2. Once I checked into the emergency room and described what I had been through to the ER doctor, I was given a CT scan. Then the doctor said that he suspected that I had a ruptured aneurysm.

Now, when I heard this I couldn’t believe it and was actually completely freaked out, as I had no real idea what having a ruptured aneurysm truly meant. Before this point, the only other time I’d even heard the term cerebral aneurysm was in the movie American Flyers (which is one of my favorites for some reason.) In this film, Kevin Costner’s character ends up having a cerebral aneurysm and when his aneurysm ruptures, Costner’s character started to bleed from his nose and ears. Later in the film, while he’s in the hospital, Costner’s character says that there’s no way to “fix” the aneurysm without severely damaging the person’s motor skills (essentially the person would become a vegetable). Now, I don’t know if the whole bleeding from the nose and ears thing really happens, but thankfully, it didn’t happen to me. Like I said, prior to being in that ER, that is the ONLY time the term “cerebral aneurysm” has played a role in my life…so needless to say, I was 100% freaked out, particularly at the prospect of becoming a vegetable, since American Flyers came out in 1985, which is relatively recent (meaning I was alive when it came out).

The doctors told me that there was a chance that I had actually suffered from a venial hemorrhage, as opposed to an arterial one, which wouldn’t be quite a severe or potentially as bad. They kept me in the hospital for 5 days after my initial visit to the ER and after resting at home for a while, on the day after Christmas, I went back into the hospital for another test…which conclusively showed an aneurysm. Lovely…

But the doctors were great and explained to me that technology and surgery has advanced light years since American Flyers was released and they would be able to go in and clip the aneurysm.

This set off a whirlwind of events over the holiday season and beginning of the new year that included (in no particular order):

· my first ride in an ambulance, complete with the sirens going and the running of red lights….that was pretty cool
· multiple CT scans
· 4 or 5 cerebral angiograms
· getting to stay home for the entire college football bowl season (which, despite the circumstances, was completely awesome)
· getting to stay home for the entire NCAA tournament (again, awesome)
· 3 separate hospital stays
· ATL learning how to sleep in a chair next to a hospital bed
· lots of injections and IV’s and arterial lines
· lots of bad hospital food
· really loud nurses
· 2 separate craniotomies (with some pretty sweet anesthesia)
· wearing a mohawk to my 1st surgery (thanks Kev!)
· the growing of an awesome beard
· 53 staples in my head (1st time)
· 52 staples in my head (2nd time)
· retaining a film negative of my brain
· a 9 inch scar down the left side of my head, which totally adds to my street cred. If someone asks me about it, I usually tell them that I got it during a knife fight…and I won

In the end:
· The surgeon was able to successfully clip the aneurysm...Yay, thanks Dr. Martin and staff!!!!
· I was out of the office on medical leave for 135 days
· I had the opportunity to watch every college bowl game and NCAA tournament game that was televised
· I watched a lot of Holmes on Homes, Man Vs. Wild and Survivorman
· I became quite proficient at Gears of War
· I learned a whole lot about (i) short-term disability, (ii) short term disability insurance and (iii) health insurance coverage
· I know what it’s like to have to take numerous meds, multiple times, daily
· I went a full 3.5 months without drinking a single drop of alcohol (thankfully, it was after the college football regular season)
· ATL and I were able to see a picture of my actual brain and what a clipped aneurysm looks like (I wish we had a copy of this picture…I would totally post it)
· ATL discovered a store within the hospital that sells nice hats….she likes hats
· ATL learned her way around 2 hospitals
· After the 2nd surgery (which was successful), I was discharged from the hospital on the morning of Superbowl Sunday and was able to watch the NY Giants win the Superbowl, the same team I was watching when the whole ordeal started….giving me an odd sense of closure…

So…one year later, I look back at it and it all seems to have happened so fast….i mean everything. The hospital stays, the tests, the surgery, the recovery…I remember most of it quite vividly and I’m glad I was able to get through it. I’ve been told by a few people that some people are asymptomatic when they have a ruptured cerebral aneurysm...and if this had been me, I would probably be dead right now. It's weird for me to type that...i mean I've said stuff like that in jest quite a few times since it happened, but still...

Thankfully, I have no recognition of the surgeries. I remember going into the surgery room and everyone preparing for the procedure. Then, they told me that they were gonna give me the anesthesia, which meant that they were gonna put a mask over my mouth and nose and have me count down from 100. The first time I remember making it to 97…but the second time, I made it to 96! What can I say...I have a tendency to develop tolerances.

So, albeit a bit after the fact, since Thanksgiving was last week, some of the things (definitely not all) I’m thankful for are:

ATL - she took care of everything…and I mean everything, during the entire ordeal. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her

My family – immediate and extended. They really helped in any way they could when ATL and I needed it. My mom and dad, lawrence, bords, trini and nella came through big.

Friends – the visits and well wishes were awesome and helped immensely

Suzy and Dakota – someone had keep me company when I was stuck at home on medical leave playing Gears of War and watching college sports for 2.5 months after the surgeries

Dr. Neil Martin – the surgeon…I mean c’mon, the dude cut open my head and fixed it. I wanted to drop a Doc Martin joke (either about the shoe or the DJ) on him at some point, as well as put in a request to unlock my latent superpower while he’s messing with my brain, but he didn’t come off as the joking around type, which is actually a good thing. I would prefer that someone take their job seriously when they cut open my head and dig around in my brain and stuff.

Jenn Varma, N.P., Dr. Raifu, the other neurosurgery residents and all of Dr. Martin’s staff - they answered all of my questions and concerns whenever I freaked out about my brain

Navi, Allison, all of the other ICU people and the hospital staff at the UCLA Medical Center – they were friendly and awesome. BTW, the UCLA Medical Center is ranked 3rd on the list of the Nation’s Top Rated Hospitals (I know this because there are banners and signs all over the hospital’s lobby telling you this and it’s a well deserved ranking). While I’m very much anti-ucla, particularly during this week, please note that none of this animosity extends to their medical center.

NB: I actually did try to go to a surgeon at the USC Medical Center, but he wasn’t covered under my health insurance…

Dr. Chen and the neuroscience staff at Kaiser Sunset – they were great handling everything prior to the surgeries…and they referred me to Dr. Martin.

My Job: My co-workers have been great and, to be honest, I’m just happy to have a job given the current environment, particularly in the financial industry…because one of the benefits of having a job is:

Health Insurance – This stuff is awesome and my provider has been great through the whole deal.

FIGHT ON!

fucla SUCKS!! (but not the medical center)

BEAT THE BRUINS!!

Go Manny!!