Categories: uncategorized
Date: 22 July 2013 09:14:52
Last year, on his birthday, my brother had a cerebral haemorrhage.
Last year, at Christmas, he had an operation to fill the fistula (site of the bleed) with superglue. He was given permission to drive again, after six months without his cars, and was also signed off as fit to return to sea (his former job - though now just an occasional hobby).
This year, on his birthday. he had an angiogram to assess the success of the operation and allow him to be discharged from the hospital as completely fit again.
Excellent. The operation was a complete success. The glue has blocked those faulty blood vessels completely, preventing any risk of a further stroke from that weakened area due to a congenital malformation of the arteries/veins in that part of his brain. (I always said he was weak in the head!)
But, a bit of a b****r..........
....the diverted blood supply has managed to find another area of weakness.
The latest angiogram has shown up a fresh fistula which was not visible on any previous angiogram slides. This area poses slight further risk of a stroke. This one cannot be glued (we suspect because the glue gun which got stuck last time makes the artery too narrow) so he is being referred to Sheffield, centre of excellence, to have the ...(*cue dramatic music*) Gamma knife! It's non invasive, will involved four short hospital visits on four consecutive days, but takes about 18 months to have its full effect. Today we are waiting on the phone call which says whether the DVLA are going to allow him still to drive in the meantime.
He is such an attention whore.