Sunday 3rd March
We love Sunday morning’s in the Harris household as 99% of the time Ryan is home however this particular Sunday he had to work. A usual Sunday consists of cuddles with the kids in bed, bacon and eggs and Brody’s swimming lesson. As Ryan was working I decided to make life easier and drop Millie at my parents’ (GG and Papa) house on the way to swimming.
After swimming we spent some time with GG and Papa and headed home for Millie’s afternoon nap. Ryan arrived home from work around 2pm where we briefly discussed inviting my parents over for dinner before he headed to the gym for a quick session around 2:30pm. At this point Millie was sleeping, Ryan was at the gym and Brody and I were about to play. Before heading to our play room I dropped my phone on the bench slightly more aggressive than anticipated when putting it on charge and the screen turned black. My heart rate rose and I had an instant headache on the left side which I assumed was because I panicked trying to remember the last time I had backed up my phone. Fortunately my phone turned on again without any hassle or lost data and everything was fine except for this extremely intense headache. As I walked away from the bench to get Panadol I noticed that my right foot/leg felt tingly, like pins and needles. I am very in-tune with my body and I knew something wasn’t right so Brody and I sat down in the kitchen and waited a minute. I soon realised that I couldn’t move my leg at all, I couldn’t even wiggle my toes, the panic set in. Fortunately I could just reach my phone and I immediately called Ryan, who didn’t answer (as he was at the gym). I then called my parents, who didn’t answer. I tried Ryan again, no answer, at this point my heart was racing, my voice was shaking and I was finding it hard to breathe. Brody was saying ‘mama, you need dada’ ‘you need help’, as I lay on the floor. My mum returned my call and could hear the panic in my voice as I explained what had happened. Mum and dad jumped in the car and came straight to my house (lucky they only live 5 minutes away). Once I had spoken to dad, Ryan also called and came straight home. Mum and dad arrived first however they didn’t have their key to our house so I had to pull my body along the floor to open the door for them. As soon as they saw me dad called the ambulance. Thinking of this moment even makes me tear up now as I can remember my mum’s face clearly as she said she could see how scared I was, not knowing what was happening to me.
After a long 20 minute wait the ambulance arrived and the paramedics moved me to the couch where I was asked numerous questions about pain, numbness, movement, strength etc. and it wasn’t until one of the paramedics started touching the right side of my body that I realised the numb feeling I had wasn’t localised to just my leg, it extended up my body even to my face. Somehow the paramedics concluded on the spot that they didn’t believe I had had a stroke but insisted I went to hospital for further examination.
As they carried me to the ambulance Millie woke up so I was able to say goodbye to both my babies who stayed home with my parents. The paramedics said there was no need to rush so we literally cruised to the Austin hospital which felt like it took forever, even Ryan beat us there and he stopped to fill up with petrol on the way. As the paramedics seemed so relaxed and they had pumped me up with oral and IV pain relief for my headache I was also feeling quite relaxed at this stage. There was a wait in the emergency department and after about 10 minutes a very abrupt doctor spoke to me about my symptoms and brushed it off as probably being a severe migraine however arranged a CT scan to be certain. I was taken to a pod where my vitals were checked and I was prepped for the CT scan and told that one scan would be performed however a second scan may be required and if so they would inject a dye into the IV that would make me feel like I wet myself. I remember the moment the nurse came over and told me they would be performing the second scan, my heart sank and I knew from that point it was more than a migraine. I was wheeled back to my pod with Ryan by my side where we asked numerous questions however got no answers from the nurses. After a few moments a member of the stroke team met with us and explained I had bleeding on my brain as a result of an AVM (arteriovenous malformation) – I had had a stroke and would most likely require surgery and be in hospital for 2-3 weeks. I burst into tears thinking firstly, how could this happen and secondly, I have two babies, I can’t be in hospital for 2-3 weeks!
An AVM is essentially a birth defect where there is an abnormal connection between arteries and veins that can go unnoticed or in some circumstances can rupture causing bleeding on the brain. Until this moment I had never heard of this malformation. Fortunately I had never required a scan of my brain prior to this which in hindsight if I had it probably would have been picked up earlier. Ryan and I sat and just looked at each other in disbelief as we processed what we had just been told. We made phone calls to immediate family and waited to be transferred to the Austin Neurosurgery ward.
