Dave Mackey

I think it was a Tuesday, the first day back at work after a self imposed long weekend. I looked up from whatever I'd been doing when the boss arrived and realised I had double vision. Strange , I remember thinking at the time, I haven't had a drink all day. I was told to go home and try not to do anything to raise my blood pressure, (yeah right).

Things seemed to get worse over the next couple of days, it was hard to tell. On Thursday morning I clipped a couple of cars with my wing mirror on the way to work, distance perception was shot - back to the bloody hospital. I had to be admitted. What had actually happened earlier in the week was the start of a series of bleeds on to the Cerebral Peduncle which is situated in the midbrain/central nervous system area at the top of the spine.

The next thing I remember is having these weird dreams man. I prefer to call them hallucinations, they were that vivid. Then came the physio's voice urging me to "grab this rubber ring". I'd lost six weeks by now and the neurosurgeon had had to remove the top of my skull, stop the bleeding and get rid of the excess. By this stage I couldn't swallow and I had to have a tube stuck in my gut for sustenance. I'm not too proud to admit that I shed a tear or two as the enormity of my situation sunk in. On this day I had to be shifted to a Rehab facility . The second weekend I was there I was allowed home yeeeeeeehaaaaa, but I couldn't even make a noise let alone click my fingers to call my dog.

During my lost six weeks in hospital I had had a pressure valve inserted beside my skull which will be there for life, because the trauma to the brain at the time made the brain swell and the valve gives the excess fluid somewhere to go. It drains into my gut. At this time of writing its11 months since my admission to hospital and these tremors are really beginning to piss me off. The brain trauma caused what the doctors classed an "abnormal movement," - abnormal alright, the left hand side of my body spasms from my shoulder right down to my toes, any given muscle, any time of the day or night.....it's continuous.....pain in the ass. You should try it sometime. Take it from me . Be thankful for what you've got. You don't know what you've got till its gone.

Thanks to Dave for sending in his profile. Anyone else who would like to share their story can send it along with a photograph (if you're not shy!)

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