I didn't ask the doctors how long I should wait before I started trying to run again fearing I wouldn't like the answer they gave me. In the end I lasted 39 days. I started with a few sneaky visits to the gym over the last week or so, and rather than making me feel even more tired it has perked me up a bit for the rest of the day. Despite this I've been reluctant to try running, too much movement really hurts my head and I couldn't face the pounding running would give my head. However my headaches have improved over the last couple of days and on thursday night I anounced to Elsie I was going to try a run the next day. She didn't look particularly pleased with this plan.
So Friday 21st march, the 1st post brain haemorrhage run. I decided just to head out for a very steady trot around the block, nervously clutching my mobile phone should anything go wrong. I managed a very slow 5k, heart rate sky high, legs heavy but wow it felt good. I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day.
In the evening we headed down to Elsie's mum and dads for a bit of a family get together for the weekend, I packed some running kit just incase, it would be rude to visit Cumbria and not get out for a wee run. So on Saturday I went out again, this time with Elsie's sister Amy, another easy 30 mins running, just as slow, heart rate sky high again but felt just as good as Friday.
On Sunday Elsie and Amy were heading out for 10 miles, and I asked to tag along to see if I could manage a longer run. Joe S came with us too, he had a bit of a chest infection so was happy to run at a (for him) very easy pace. It was a stunning day with great views towards the Lake District, with snow glistening on Skiddaw in the distance. The 10miles flew by, but legs were pretty heavy towards the end. It was a pretty undulating route so it was hard to keep the heart rate down (avg 84% mhr). By the end legs were feeling pretty trashed. It's pretty amazing how much muscle wastage there has been in 39 days. 2.5 months ago I was racing 100 miles at a decent pace, and now 10 miles at a slow pace feels like a similar level of effort. I'm hobbling about today with some cracking DOMS.
6 weeks post SAH a very unexpected 17 mile week!
Monday 24 March 2014
An inconvenient Subarachnoid Haemorhage
The plan post Spine Race had been to take it very easy for 2-3 weeks before starting to build towards some shorter faster races (D33, Highland Fling or if selected Anglo Celtic Plate). The mess my feet were in after the Spine race made it much easier than normal to take a few days off running. I had massive bruising under my toenails which eventually resulted in 5 nails departing. Aside from this I felt surprisingly good in the days after the race and after a couple of easy weeks I was soon getting back into the old routine.
Cut to Monday 10th Feb which started as a pretty normal day- ran down to Spin class at Virgin Active follwed by easy run into work, about 5 miles running in total. I had a fairly routine day at work before jogging down to Bellahouston park for the session with Bellahouston Road Runners. Planned session was cruise intervals (8/6/4/3/2/1 mins) round the usual southside loop past Rouken Glen. Immediately on 1st rep I felt a bit off the pace and didn't feel quite right, nothing major, just slightly not quite right. At the end of the 1st rep I decided I wasn't going to get much out of the session feeling like this so decided I would jog bag to the ski centre. Brian and a couple of others offered to jog back with me but I told them I felt ok to head back on my own. After a few minutes jogging back I suddenly had an agonising headache, kind of like someone was reaching inside my head and squeazing my brain, this was one of the most painful things I have felt in my life so was pretty sure this was a bit more than a headache. Apparantly a passer by found me hanging on to a speed camera and helped me over to Thorntree Hall where the caretaker called an ambulance. I was sick a couple of times while waiting for the ambulance and started to get really cold as I was still in my sweaty running kit.
The ambulance arrived and took me to the Victoria hospital, which I apparently moaned about because I wanted to go to the Western Infirmary which is really near my flat. I had a CT scan at the Victoria which showed I had a Subarachnoid brain haemorrhage. I later learned around 10% of SAH cases die before they make it to the hospital, so on the plus side I was doing alright so far. I was transferred to Neurology at the Southern General. Overnight I developed Hydrocephalus, which is caused by the cerebro spinal fluid being unable to drain away. This was treated by putting an extraventricular drain in my head to remove the excess fluid. I also had a CT Angiogram which showed the bleed was caused by a 3mm ruptured aneurysm, this was to be treated by Endovascular Coiling to prevent further bleeding. Endovascular Coiling involves making an incision in the groin and passing a catheter all the way up to the aneurism site and inserting a platinum coils to prevent further bleeding. Pretty clever and a bit nicer than the alternative method that takes the direct route and opens up the skull. After the procedure I took a bit longer than expected to wake up so was put in ITU but eventually woke up at 9.30pm on tuesday night and was well enough to be moved to ward 65 the next day. By Thursday I was a bit more aware of where I was and a bit less confused, I was telling Elsie off for missing her triathlon training, and hassling her for flat hunting news (the lease on our current flat ended in less than a month and we didn't have a new flat yet). With all this to cope with I'm pretty impressed Elsie hadn't suffered a meltdown yet.
Much to my displeasure I was told I would need at least a couple more weeks in hospital. Over the next week I deteriorated a bit and developed a meningitis infection from the extra ventricular drain. This was treated with antibiotics and a fresh drain put in. After this I made a pretty good recovery, and was able to have the drain removed. Once the drain was out the hospital were happy to release me back into the wild, and 3 weeks to the day since the initial haemorrhage I was on my way home Remarkably in between visiting me every day Elsie had found us a new flat, and the weekend before I was released the bella boys had helped Elsie move our stuff in. It was great to come to a nice new place to live, perfect to begin the recovery process. From what I've been told and read I can expect at least 3 months of feeling exhausted, headaches and insomnia, but otherwise it looks like I am one of the lucky ones who will make a full recovery. So it looks like feet up for a bit. At least it will give all those post Spine race niggles a chance to heal.
Cut to Monday 10th Feb which started as a pretty normal day- ran down to Spin class at Virgin Active follwed by easy run into work, about 5 miles running in total. I had a fairly routine day at work before jogging down to Bellahouston park for the session with Bellahouston Road Runners. Planned session was cruise intervals (8/6/4/3/2/1 mins) round the usual southside loop past Rouken Glen. Immediately on 1st rep I felt a bit off the pace and didn't feel quite right, nothing major, just slightly not quite right. At the end of the 1st rep I decided I wasn't going to get much out of the session feeling like this so decided I would jog bag to the ski centre. Brian and a couple of others offered to jog back with me but I told them I felt ok to head back on my own. After a few minutes jogging back I suddenly had an agonising headache, kind of like someone was reaching inside my head and squeazing my brain, this was one of the most painful things I have felt in my life so was pretty sure this was a bit more than a headache. Apparantly a passer by found me hanging on to a speed camera and helped me over to Thorntree Hall where the caretaker called an ambulance. I was sick a couple of times while waiting for the ambulance and started to get really cold as I was still in my sweaty running kit.
The ambulance arrived and took me to the Victoria hospital, which I apparently moaned about because I wanted to go to the Western Infirmary which is really near my flat. I had a CT scan at the Victoria which showed I had a Subarachnoid brain haemorrhage. I later learned around 10% of SAH cases die before they make it to the hospital, so on the plus side I was doing alright so far. I was transferred to Neurology at the Southern General. Overnight I developed Hydrocephalus, which is caused by the cerebro spinal fluid being unable to drain away. This was treated by putting an extraventricular drain in my head to remove the excess fluid. I also had a CT Angiogram which showed the bleed was caused by a 3mm ruptured aneurysm, this was to be treated by Endovascular Coiling to prevent further bleeding. Endovascular Coiling involves making an incision in the groin and passing a catheter all the way up to the aneurism site and inserting a platinum coils to prevent further bleeding. Pretty clever and a bit nicer than the alternative method that takes the direct route and opens up the skull. After the procedure I took a bit longer than expected to wake up so was put in ITU but eventually woke up at 9.30pm on tuesday night and was well enough to be moved to ward 65 the next day. By Thursday I was a bit more aware of where I was and a bit less confused, I was telling Elsie off for missing her triathlon training, and hassling her for flat hunting news (the lease on our current flat ended in less than a month and we didn't have a new flat yet). With all this to cope with I'm pretty impressed Elsie hadn't suffered a meltdown yet.
Much to my displeasure I was told I would need at least a couple more weeks in hospital. Over the next week I deteriorated a bit and developed a meningitis infection from the extra ventricular drain. This was treated with antibiotics and a fresh drain put in. After this I made a pretty good recovery, and was able to have the drain removed. Once the drain was out the hospital were happy to release me back into the wild, and 3 weeks to the day since the initial haemorrhage I was on my way home Remarkably in between visiting me every day Elsie had found us a new flat, and the weekend before I was released the bella boys had helped Elsie move our stuff in. It was great to come to a nice new place to live, perfect to begin the recovery process. From what I've been told and read I can expect at least 3 months of feeling exhausted, headaches and insomnia, but otherwise it looks like I am one of the lucky ones who will make a full recovery. So it looks like feet up for a bit. At least it will give all those post Spine race niggles a chance to heal.
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