Hi everyone! I just joined the forums hoping to find some useful, and hopefully optimistic information about aneurysm recovery. I could probably find situations similar to ours by reading through the threads, but as most of you know, when going through this it's hard to wait for answers.

This is probably an unnecessarily long post, but I'd like to try to tell the whole story at once.

On Friday night, February 15th, my boyfriend, Larry, got a terrible headache. He took OTC pain medicine and went to bed. On Saturday morning, he still had the headache, so he stayed in bed until around noon. At that point, I begged him to try to stay awake to see if the headache would ease. He took more medicine and said that he thought he had the flu because he felt so bad. Throughout the day, I saw some (slight) confusion and begged him to go to the hospital. Being a typical guy (I mean absolutely no offense here), he refused. So he slept most of the day, ate once and was lying in bed on Saturday night when I again begged him to sit up and talk to me. At this point he started rambling about things that made absolutely no sense. Thats when I forced him to go to the hospital. The ER docs said that he had a migraine, gave him three shots and sent him home to rest. On Sunday morning, the headache was still there full-force and the confusion was ten times worse. His mom and I took him back to the hospital at which point he had his first CAT scan and was airlifted to a larger hospital because of "bleeding on the brain."

The first day, more CAT scans were done which showed that the bleeding had apparently stopped. The neurosurgeons said that the blood was in the ventricles, so it was not causing brain damage by being there. (From what I've read, intraventricular bleeding is very rare except in infants. I havent been able to find very helpful information on adults. If anyone has any information on possible damage caused by this, please let me know.) They wanted to do an MRI, but because of his confusion, Larry was unable to lie still. So, they sedated him for his first angiogram. The neuro team told us that Larry had an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) and that we would have to wait 6-8 weeks for the blood to dissipate before we could discuss treatment options.

Throughout the first week, the headache became less severe (he was switched from morphine to tylenol at one point) and the confusion seemed to have lessened slightly. On Monday the 25th, it was as if we were back at day one. More confusion, headache even worse than before. At our urging, another CAT scan was ordered which showed more bleeding. On Tuesday another angio was done, which showed that it was not an AVM, but an aneurysm in the anterior choroidal artery. The neuroradiologist said that he was unable to get close enough to coil, so he glued. Said that he felt confident it was closed. The angio took 5 hours. However, Larry appeared to have had a stroke during the procedure - he was coming out of the anesthesia with severe right-side weakness.

We were allowed in to see him one hour after the procedure was finished. Larry did not know us and didnt seem to be able to speak. We witnessed very blank, almost lifeless stares. He was so confused he was biting his lips to the point that they bled. We were told to wait 24-48 hours to see how he recovered. The next day, we had moments where Larry recognized us and tried to speak, but speech was very difficult. Usually only one or two words, never complete sentences. On Saturday, March 1st, Larry was moved to a step-down unit. He was then talking in full sentences but would still occasionally go off into left field and make almost no sense at all. He never knew where he was, would guess at places like Philadelphia, even though we live in NC. Called me Elizabeth and Angie instead of Erika, although he obviously knew who I was and that I was his girlfriend. Very bad memory problems - could not remember when he and I started dating, couldnt remember where certain pictures were taken.

On Wednesday the 5th, he was almost discharged but instead moved to the rehab floor for rehabilitation after stroke. His speech is remarkably better, although he is suffering from aphasia and sometimes inserts the wrong word. For instance, he used "refrigerator" instead of "wheelchair." His right side is amazingly stronger - he can eat with his right hand, shave, brush his teeth and can walk and stand. Once moved to rehab, we found out that his vision in his right eye is damaged - the doctors cannot tell us if that will get better. The memory problems still exist, although he can now remember when we started dating, where pictures were taken, etc. When I visit, he can't remember what he did the day before. His headache was very bad today, but eventually the Ultram kicked in and he was able to get out of bed. He isnt on morphine anymore, only Ultram and Tylenol.

While I was washing his hair today, several handfulls of hair came out. He has very thick hair, so his scalp isnt showing yet, but each time he runs his hands through it, more comes out.

What I would like to know, is if anyone can tell me if his memory will return to normal. The vision problems he can get used to, as he isnt completely blind. Nothing has been done to drain the blood, so there is a great deal of pressure. The doctors have not told us whether or not his memory will come back as the pressure goes down, or if this is what we are going to get. It's driving me crazy not knowing whether or not I'll get "my Larry" back.

Larry is 29 and I'm 22. Any information would be greatly appreciated. He is supposed to be released in one week.