So here goes;
In the beginning of March of this year I woke up at a friends house at uni after a night of games and few drinks. We talked for a bit and then I noticed that my right arm had gone completely numb, and for some strange reason this didn't bother me. I remember rolling from side to side saying "I don't feel very well", I was fairly out of it at this point. I vaguely remember my friend calling an ambulance and then vomiting inhumane amounts all over his room.
There are a few memories here and there but the first time I clearly remember anything is when I woke up 3 days after. I was in such horrendous pain at first so I didn't really pay attention to what doctors were telling me but I now know they were telling me that; 1) I have an AVM in the centre of my brain 2) It's level 5 out of 5 which means it's huge and diffuse 3) it's inoperable. If you're like I was, you've probably never heard of an AVM so here's the gist. It's an arteriovenous malformation; a tangle of blood vessels which forms at birth where arteries connect straight to veins instead of having the normal bed of capillaries between them to lower pressure. This means that high pressure blood comes out of the arteries and straight into weak-walled veins, and over time of battering a particular section of the vein haemorrhages and blood pours out. Mine is in my brain and what I found out is that blood suffocates brain cells with too much oxygen thus killing them, which is basically it's not good. Infos here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arteriovenous_malformationThe doctors said that it was inoperable for a long time which eventually became terrifying. This thing could bleed and kill me at any time without any kind of warning. After an initial bleed there is a 10% chance of it bleeding a second time in the first year and then 2-4% for every year after that which accumulates so eventually there is a 100% chance of it happening. When there is a second bleed there is a 50% chance of death and a 20% of a major disability and frankly any percentage of it happening is too high. I'm also very aware of it being there and the knowledge that it could end you at any moment is just hideous.
Then I got some good news, a centre at Sheffield offered me gamma-knife which is a non-invasive way of sealing up the veins so no blood can go through them any more, resolving the problem. The downside is that it's not a sure thing due to the size of mine and it takes 5 years to seal up so there's still a chance of another haemorrhage. Overall it is wonderful stuff that they can fix it, but my lord I'm still a mess over the whole thing, it's only really just begun to hit me and with the problems that stroke has left me with, the incredibly low chances of all this happening and the fact it could happen again whenever, I'm ever so slightly annoyed.
Basically, I'm suffering enormously over this, and I was wondering if anyone knows anyone that has one? Ever heard of one or dealt with an AVM before?
tl;dr version; I had a brain haemorrhage due to an AVM in my brain, anyone know anything about it or know anyone with one.