A DAY WHEN EVERYTHING WENT WRONG
Sandy Smith
AIU ONLINE

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 will always be remembered as a day when everything went wrong. I never in a million years could have predicted this day. I woke up late, which rarely ever happens and the day went downhill from there. I am extremely blessed and thankful to be able to tell my story. I woke up late on this day. I needed to be up by 8:00 am; instead I did not wake up until 9:30 am. I had a breakfast date with a friend at 10:00 am. Needless to say, I had to call her to reschedule since I was not going to be on time. She seemed slightly irritated with me, because this was the second time I had to reschedule. Since I missed my breakfast date, I decided to do a few loads of laundry before going to work at
1:00pm. After putting my first load into the wash, I went to the kitchen to make coffee. I went to get the coffee canister only to realize I was out of coffee. Feeling somewhat defeated, I sat at the kitchen table pondering the events of my morning, thus far. After sitting in the kitchen for about forty minutes or so, I went to put the laundry into the dryer. The dryer had blown a fuse and would not operate. At this point, I seriously thought, this has got to be
Some type of bad dream that I was having. I did not know whether to laugh or cry at the events of the day. I did neither. After a while it was time to prep for work. I got ready for work, and even made it there without any major catastrophe happening. Things were looking up for me, or so I thought. I was a few hours into my shift when I started experiencing chest pains. This was odd because I had never experienced this before. I just attributed the chest pains to my bad morning. The pain became increasingly worse to the point where I felt I needed to seek medical attention. My fiancée picked me up from work and drove me to the local hospital. At this point, I am in a state of sheer panic. By the time I arrived at the hospital, I had the worse headaches I had ever experienced in my life. I am a migraine suffer and I get the frequently. However, this was a pain I had never before experienced. During my assessment, and EKG was done to rule out a heart attack. The EKG was negative. The doctor then ordered a CAT scan be done of my head. I was not prepared for what was to come next. The doctor came back to my room with a grim look on her face. She informed me that Life Flight was on its way to transport me to another hospital. She stated, “Ms. Smith you have bleeding on the brain and we need to get you to UPMC hospital in Pittsburgh right away.” I was lost and could not exactly understand the ramifications of what she was saying. My mom, fiancée, and both daughters were in the room with me. My daughters were crying and I remember my youngest asking, “Mommy are you going to die?” I did not have time to answer her, nor was I sure how to answer. The Life Flight crew had arrived and was ushering everyone out of the room to prepare me for the transfer. I remember kissing my family goodbye not really knowing if I would see any of them again. I do not really recall much of the flight. I was given medication to help with the pain. I do remember the flight nurse telling me at some point that our estimated time of arrival was twelve minutes. After arriving at UPMC , the last thing that I remember on this day, was in ICU. There many different doctors that came in to assess me and talk with me. I honestly cannot remember much of those conversations. I do remember brain aneurysm being thrown around a lot. I was hooked-up to all a type of monitoring devices, my blood was being drawn, and medication was given. I just wanted to see my family. I truly thought I was going to die. After what seemed like an eternity, my family members were permitted back to see me two at a time. When, I saw the tears in my father’s eyes, I was convinced I was not going to survive this. The pain was horrific and I was terrified. I prayed a lot. During the night, I was closely monitored. A cerebral angiogram was scheduled for the next morning. This procedure involved going through my groin with a catheter which was guided to my brain. The doctors attempted to coil the aneurysm, however it was unsuccessful. I had to have surgery a few days later. The surgery involved clamping the aneurysm and it was successful. I was in the hospital for little over two weeks. I am one blessed individual. June 14, 2011 was truly a day that everything went wrong. Who would have that with all the minor things that happened that day that I would have been fighting for my life at the end of it? Being a survivor of a brain aneurysm has taught me to appreciate life more. I no longer sweat the small stuff and I live each day as if it were going to be my last.