I had a cold which had turned into bronchitis as it usually did since I smoked and my intended doctors visit delayed by improvement of the cold even though the cough lingered on. I had never been one to go to the doctor for just any little thing. I don't dislike going, I just seldom NEEDED to go. I have always enjoyed very good health. In fact my doctor once commented " You could let me see your pretty face in here at least once a year so I will know your still alive".

Had I gone to the Doctor, I wouldn't have had to go through all this, or at least not yet. Is hindsight really 20/20 or considering the remarkable recovery I have made and the fact that another aneurysm was discovered, am I even luckier that I didn't go?

Anyway, when I cough, I tend to gag and cough up whatever mucos is in my throat.

I went to bed very early one night after coughing a lot saying that I had a bad headache. I dont recall that the pain was anything near unbearable but it is I think odd that I didn't take anything for it and was able to go right to sleep.

I awoke next morning early, pain free and clear headed. It was March 23,2004 and my life was about to be changed forever.

Made the coffee and sat down at the computer as was my custom every morning. Mike didn't usually get up for another hour, but I guess my coughing woke him and he came into the room. For about a month or more my sense of time seems jumbled or entirely absent and my memories of this time are patchy at best. I went to the bathroom, still coughing. As I started back, I knew something was very wrong. I was immediately unable to speak or use my right arm. I did manage to walk about 8 feet which put me just inside the doorway of the room where my husband sat. Luckily there is is a small cabinet just inside that doorway where I leaned when my leg ceased to function. Noticing what I had done, my husband asked what was wrong and when I didn't answer he asked me a much simpler question, "Do I need to call an Ambulance?"

It's funny what you remember and what you don't. I don't think I ever got to drink that cup of coffee but I definitely remember that pale blue cup sitting on the side of the desk as if it had just been poured and sat there on my way to the bathroom.It was not in it's usual place. I don't remember Mikes call for the ambulance, it's arrival or departure with me inside. I do remember the ambulance crew being at the house at some point and waking once in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I remember waking once in the ER and needing to tell my husband something very badly, it took everything I could manage just to whisper.

I remember next to nothing of the next few weeks and little of the next few months. The events that follow were told to me by my husband and doctors.

I had suffered a major brain bleed of the Posterior Communicating Artery, which as I understand it is located roughly in the center of the brain or behind the corner of the left eye that is closest to the nose and about half way back in the head. A second small aneurysm was also found.