My younger brother Julio had a cerebral aneurysm two weeks ago. He is a healthy 23 year old, he loves to skateboard, surf and all of those kind of outdoor activities. He had just made one of his dreams come true last May, he bought a ticket to Europe and got his backpack and off he went to europe for a three month adventure. He does freelance work, he is a recording engineer and he proved to have a lot of talent doing that.
Two weeks ago he woke up to take my daughter to school as he came back, he went back to sleep. When he woke up he couldn't feel his right side, he tried standing up and fell down he tries standing up for about 6 times and he fell down each time. When he noticed that this was very strange he called to my mom to help him. My mom ran to his room and found my brother holding on to a wall of his room with one hand, she rushed him to the hospital. They did the MRI and angiogram to try to locate the artery and see how big the aneurysm was. They said they could not perform surgery on him because his aneurysm was near the center of the brain and that it would be a very dangerous procedure, also they couldn't seem to find out the artery that had ruptured.
They let him out of the hospital this last friday, and on his way home he noticed he couldn't hear very well, at home he answered the phone and placed the phone on his right ear and noticed it was harder to listen with that ear. As I had said he has his own little recording studio and that has been the work of his life, he had gotten several recognition for his work, and last night, as I talked to him last night he confessed what he had discovered, he had lost his hearing on his right side, and that this was the worst that could have happened to him, that he didn't care that he lost mobility on his leg or arm, but not his ear.
He has always done what he needed to do to get to where he wanted to be. Right now he is taking therapy to recover movement on his leg and arm and I have seen a lot of improvement, but about his ear, he could do nothing and that really hit him hard. I did not know what to to say to him, I said I would go in the internet and try to find out if there is anything we could do to recover his hearing, but I'm afraid I haven't found anything.
Please help, it is very hard to see my young, strong, hardheaded, independent little brother, in a bed crying because he feels useless.
Update 27 Jan 2002
I think it's time to update my narrative about my brother Julio Teja. He has an appointment the first week of February. The doctor's there will be performing another angiogram and MRI. He has been told that he has an AVM and what happened is that he had a stroke, he bled a bit. They don't know exactly the location of the AVM but they have told him that they'll probably be treating it with the Gamma-Knife procedure. He does not have it very clear how this works. He's kind of shy on asking questions. It seems I'm more concerned about what he's going to be through than he is, but then probably it's just he's way of dealing with it.
Because my brother is self employed and does not have a real income, he lives with my parents and he does not have insurance. He's receiving his medical aid through the state, and every step the doctors have to take, has to go through this procedure to see if the CMS (california medical aid) program will cover it. So that is why it has taken a while to have some answers.
He has recovered most of his mobility. He still is numb on his left side mostly the leg. He has not felt any improvement on his hearing but then I don't think you can really notice how much you have improved unless you do some hearing test or something. He had a reaction to the Dilantin the doctors had prescribed. He developed a rash all over his body, so he stopped taking it (under Doctor's orders).
I'm glad to say he's back to work on his recording studio so, he's in a good mood most of the time. The Doctor told him that he cannot carry heavy stuff and that he should keep himself out of stressful situations and to control his temper. I think this last part is the toughest for him, he is very temperamental. He's back to playing with his niece (my daughter) and our little brother (he just turned eight).
I think what has helped him the most is seeing my dad, a 6o year old stubborn diabetic, go through open heart surgery (on he's 60th birthday), his recovery, the dieting, the reorganizing of his lifestyle, and come out of it with flying colors. I think this has made my brother realize all the things he has at his favor.
My Mom and I joke about how God gave us this time (my brother's "down time" as we call it) to spoil him rotten, to hug him and kiss him, we tend to be very affectious and some times we a bit carried away.
I really appreciate all your support, thank you to everybody that wrote to me and my brother.
Please read my brother, Julio's perspective