June 12, 2024. At this time last year, surrounded by friends and family, my wife and I celebrated our 52nd wedding anniversary in the cafeteria of the Victoria General Hospital.

As we drove into the cul de sac, a group of jubilant family members and neighborhood friends were gathered under the massive oak tree in the center of the circular boulevard. The date was June 19, 2023, and it was my first-time home since April 9.The group was gathered to welcome me home, and it was a heartwarming reception.

After a cheery exchange of greetings, I entered our house. A sign in colorful magnetized Lego letters, stood out in contrast to the stark white fridge door. It read, WELCOME HOME JOHN. In retrospect, it seems peculiar to have had a sign welcoming me to a home that I’d shared with my wife and family for thirty plus years, but when I saw it, my heart leapt for joy. It was at that moment I realized the full impact of my incredibly good fortune. I had made it home. Weeks earlier, it was questionable if I ever would.

 I was returning home, after spending seventy-one days in two hospitals, and several different wards. These included the Intensive Care Units at The Victoria General and the Vancouver General Hospitals and finally, the Neurological Rehabilitation Unit at the Victoria General Hospital.

The brain aneurysm I experienced happened without warning on April 9th. After initial assessment and treatment at the Victoria General Hospital, I was airlifted to the Vancouver General Hospital, where a skilled surgeon inserted a drainage tube in my brain, and a coil to staunch the bleeding. I was then monitored hourly in the Intensive Care Unit. Even before my transfer to Vancouver, my family was advised that my prospects for survival weren’t favorable.

I obviously did survive but as I mingled with friends and neighbors in our cul-de-dac, the patch covering one eye was evidence that I hadn’t come through the ordeal totally unscathed. One pair of eye muscles and nerves had been damaged, and I was experiencing double vision. While the resulting distortion negatively affected my balance, I felt very fortunate to have survived the aneurysm with just the eye problem as my major issue. Because of the balance, I initially needed a walker, and while I can now manage without it, I can no longer drive a motor vehicle.

I spent about four weeks at Vancouver General Hospital, before being transferred back to Victoria General Hospital. I have no memory of the day my aneurysm occurred, little memory of my few weeks at Vancouver, or the first two weeks or so back in Victoria. Family members and friends have also told me about the various aspects of my experience that I don’t recall, but they certainly do. Memory can be a fleeting thing.

One interesting anecdote, was that after I returned home, my wife had mentioned in passing that on the day of my aneurysm my son’s wife had taken the turkey out of the oven and carved it. This puzzled me. I wasn’t sure to who’s oven and what turkey she was referring. A day or so later, the matter of the turkey came up again, and this time I asked questions. My wife gave me a strange look before answering,

“She took the turkey out of our oven,” she finally replied.

This puzzled me even more, and I asked,

“Who put the turkey in the oven?” I asked, puzzled.  

By this time, my wife was clueing in. “You put the turkey in the oven before you went to play pickleball,” she said to my astonishment.

That morning, I had got up, made breakfast, apparently put a turkey in the oven, gathered my gear and went to play pickleball, and I have no memory of any of that. According to a person at the scene, shortly after I began playing pickleball I began acting strangely, and then complaining of a headache. They had me sit down, and I quickly lapsed into unconsciousness. The next few weeks are a blank.

The episode was a trying time for my family, and when I did regain consciousness, and understood what had happened to me, I felt a profound sense of gratitude for my family and friends and their unwavering support. My medical misfortune was an ordeal for them too.

On receiving the initial news of my hospitalization, our daughter and her husband flew to Victoria from Ontario and our son, and his wife arrived from Alberta. But even before my daughter arrived in Victoria, I was air-lifted to the Vancouver General Hospital for surgery. My family then travelled to Vancouver and scrambled to find accommodation. They had no idea for how long they’d need it. Kind family and friends greatly helped with transportation and arrangements.

During these touch and go weeks, family visited me daily, providing reassurance and comfort. While I have only fleeting recollections of the two-weeks or so in Vancouver, I was aware of family presence. Without the love, support and the presence, of my family, my survival prospects would have been far more tenuous.

Well before my aneurysm occurred, my wife was scheduled for hip replacement surgery, and at the time of my aneurysm, she was barely able to walk, Boarding the ferry as a walk-on passenger was a painfully daunting experience for her, but she braved the trip and came to Vancouver with our children and their spouses to be near me. To add to our medical issues the hospital was experiencing a covid outbreak, and our daughter and her husband contracted it. Restricted visiting hours and mask protocols were in place at the Victoria hospital, adding to my sense of isolation from family. How I avoided covid was a small miracle, as two patients in my room had contracted it. It was an uplifting time for we patients and our visitors when visiting hours were finally reinstated.

After the second or third week in Vancouver, my condition had stabilized, and I was transferred back to Victoria. There, I was transferred between different wards. My condition was improving, but my survival was still tenuous.

My daughter got through covid and returned to Victoria where she helped keep me clean and changed, my clothes and brought photos and items from home to help normalize my hospital stay. These actions greatly aided my recovery. I was also allowed outings on hospital grounds, first in a wheelchair and later using a walker. It was such a relief to get outside in the fresh air. My daughter took me on frequent outings on the hospital grounds, and later on other outings. I remember when we went to Willow’s Beach and I walked in the fresh sea air.

My son too, visited regularly. He moisturized my mouth with a small sponge. Overworked nursing staff thought that I had difficulty swallowing, but he proved them wrong. I was just very dry. His perseverance marked an important step in my recovery. I began eating on my own and could speak more clearly. My son also brought me fruit smoothies every day, making a welcome addition to my hospital diet. Before my son’s intervention with the smoothies, I was restricted to soft, bland foods which I had little appetite for. The smoothies changed that, and I was put on a regular diet. My first ‘real food’ was a cheese sandwich. To me, it was a banquet.

Because of my vision problem, another frustrating issue arose. I could not read well. Reading a book or newspaper was not possible, and I could not use my cellphone. My children purchased a children’s tablet computer which allowed video calls with my wife who could not visit due to covid and her own medical condition. Visual communication with my wife was an uplifting and normalizing experience.

Weeks went by, and my wife and I celebrated our fifty-first wedding anniversary at the hospital. Our children arranged a special dinner for my wife and I in the cafeteria, complete with balloons, signs, and family and friends. My children had food brought in for the occasion, and for the first time since the aneurysm occurred, I had a steak. It was on this occasion that I really felt that I could, eventually, leave hospital for home.  

Being in hospital for an extended time is an isolating experience, and the visits and outings with family and friends greatly helped to break my sense of isolation. It facilitated my recovery, and hastened my release home.

My final hospital placement was in the Neurological Rehabilitation outpatient program at the Victoria General Hospital. For the weeks I was there, I received excellent care. Thanks to a talented physiotherapist, I made good progress with my vision and balance issues. These issues are perplexing and ongoing, but I have appointments with specialists to correct them. Returning to driving a motor vehicle is a major goal but will take several months.

One of my goals in rehab was to return to playing pickleball, but with my vision problem, I didn’t know how realistic that was. However, my son had stayed in Victoria to help out, and our many outings included pickleball drills at a local park. 

I play pickleball regularly with the Cordova Bay 55+ club, and I discovered that two of the organizers had arranged to provide transportation, making it possible for me to play with that group. Another kind individual provides transportation to allow me to play on Fridays. Although my level of play was not great, the CB55+ players were very patient.

During my hospital stay, I received many cards and encouraging face book posts from them and others in the pickleball community. My family and I were greatly touched by their kindness. Returning to pickleball has been and continues to be an important milestone in my recovery.

My daughter has written a factual but heartfelt account of the Vancouver experience from her perspective, and my wife my son, and friends have filled in details as well. My aneurysm was a difficult and trying time for my family. The story is about the importance of family support in surviving and recovering from a life-threatening medical condition.

This account of my medical journey is dedicated to my wife, and my incredible children and family. Friends and neighbors also played important roles. They helped myself and my wife, in a multitude of ways, when my aneurysm occurred, during the time I was in hospital, and afterwards. Their kindness and support continues to date.

  I hope that this brief account of my experiences may be of some help or source of information, to families and friends of others experiencing a serious medical emergency. As mine did, medical emergencies often arise without warning and throw normal routines into chaos, disrupting lives and changing plans. When medical emergencies arise, families may need to re-locate for an unknown time to the specialized facility where the victim is receiving treatment. My family travelled to and stayed in Vancouver when I was transferred there, and returned to Victoria when I was transferred back. Family members certainly helped and made the transitions easier.

Hospitals have their own protocols that kick in when emergency strikes and time is of the essence. Movement of patients between wards and even between hospitals often happens quickly, and with little warning, requiring families to abruptly change plans. In my case, changes between hospitals, and between wards happened several times without much advance warning. For example, when I was transferred back to Victoria, my family had little time to prepare return arrangements.

I am grateful for my final placement in the neurological rehabilitation ward at Victoria General Hospital. It was here that I received care and service that allowed me to continue to recover and thrive. The staff in this unit are extraordinary. I had a great physiotherapist who developed exercises that incorporated pickleball movements. This really helped improve my balance and my spirits.

Shortly after the aneurysm happened, my prognosis was not favorable, and my family needed to prepare for the worst. My brother-in-law and a cousin in Vancouver, provided timely and helpful counsel. Some months before my aneurysm, had I prepared a document outlining my final wishes, which was also helpful. As myself and my family learned, a medical emergency can strike anyone, and at any time without warning. As we age, risk factors for many conditions, including strokes and heart attacks increase. The lesson here, is that families need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. Preparing wills and end of life documents are highly recommended.

Since returning home, in addition to recovering from her hip replacement surgery, my wife has done a stellar job keeping my appointments and medications organized and managing our household affairs and finances. With my visual problems, I simply was not able to manage, and so for this and countless other things my wife attended to, I am extremely grateful.

The time of year my aneurysm occurred is significant in our family. Many years ago my mother suffered a fatal stroke. In light of my mother’s fate, I couldn’t help reflecting on my own situation. I survived because the emergency response and hospital systems and medical specialists know much more about strokes and aneurysms and how to treat them more effectively than they did back then. We aneurysm/stroke survivors are living proof of the success of the advancement of brain science and medical knowledge.

But our medical system is under extreme stress due to a shortage of medical professionals and support staff. Alert and knowledgeable recreation center staff, emergency responders, skilled physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, aides and all those workers in the health care system played roles and collectively helped to save my life and facilitate my recovery. To all of them I am extremely grateful.

Feb 3, 2024 Update

Almost ten months have passed since my aneurysm occurred, and I have continued to not only progress, but in many ways thrive. I have had cataract surgery on one eye, with the next eye scheduled for Feb 20th. The surgery made a huge difference with my right eye, with colors much brighter and vision much sharper. My right eye is my ‘distance’ eye, while my left does close up work like reading.

June 12, 2024. Today on our 53 anniversary, I feel grateful and fortunate. I’ve made great progress in the last four months. My family doctor of many years, and the specialists involved, have done a great job of coordinating and following up on the medical issues arising due to the enurysm. In the last few weeks, I’ve been fitted with a prismatic lenses, which corrects the double vision. I’m hopeful that I will be able to get my driver license back within the next couple of months.

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