Family Natters

(continued from Cerebral haemorhage due to rupture of cavernous haemogina - early days)

The next day she had a CT scan which confirmed a brain haemorrhage, and with a doctor and nurse, were sent off to a specialist hospital that had a dedicated ward, lights flashing and siren sometimes wailing.  Once there, for the first time a doctor explained to us as much as he knew in plain English.    He said she had hydrocephalus and would be in hospital to be observed a few days, but was in no immediate danger.  James was so pleased he shook the doctor’s hand, and I could have kissed him.

Slowly Annie improved.   She did vomit a lot though, but slowly this lessened and she was less sleepy. Her coma level slowly returned to 15 although her eyes still sunsetted.  And she breast-fed again.

At that stage she was well enough to go home, but unfortunately this was delayed because Annie’s symptoms (such as blood on her retina) apparently were the same as if she had been maltreated e.g. shaken or beaten.   Because of the blood in her brain at that time, there was no way that the doctors could see she had a cavernous haemogina.  So we had to endure a skull x-ray, a skeletal survey and two days of being under suspicion of harming her.  I was told I could not be alone with my own child, and that if I left the hospital with her, the police would be called and I risked having my other child taken from me as well as Annie.  It was the worst time in our lives.

Confirmation that the haemorrhage had been caused by the rupture of a cavernous hemangioma was many months in coming, but very welcome on two counts.  First, it wasn’t an aneurysm (which is worse) and secondly it at last put James and I in the clear.

The haemorrhage left Annie with a weakness in her right hand side, a squint, and fine and gross motor issues.  We were lucky it wasn’t worse.  She has a 1 in 5 chance of having another by the time she is 20 and this could range in severity from a tiny headache she is hardly aware of, to death.  This means we are always worried that she might have another.  Every morning I am relieved to hear her wake up.  Possibly, she will have surgery when she is older to remove it.