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Pregnant woman two hours from death after stroke was misdiagnosed

A pregnant woman suffering from headaches, hallucinations and dizziness was told by nurses she was simply dehydrated – it turned out she had suffered a major stroke caused by a brain haemorrhage and was two hours from death.

In September 2016, Bridget Chiovari from Arizona, USA, first noticed a stiffness in her neck while pregnant but it was initially dismissed by doctors.

However, after going to pick up her three-year-old daughter Liliana, the 28-year-old felt a pop in the back of her head which was followed by severe headaches and dizziness.

Bridget – who was 27 weeks pregnant at the time – was taken to hospital by her husband but triage nurses insisted she was just dehydrated.

Two years ago Bridget was two hour away from death after suffering a stroke, but nurses originally insisted she was just dehydrated. Source: MEGA
Two years ago Bridget was two hour away from death after suffering a stroke, but nurses originally insisted she was just dehydrated. Source: MEGA

Within hours she had become delusional and couldn’t physically walk, despite being told just to sleep it off.

“By the time my husband brought me home, I tried eating something but just ended up throwing everything up,” Bridget said.

“I have a pretty high pain tolerance so I knew something was wrong when the pain was so high that I couldn’t even handle it.

“I was delusional, so in the middle of the night after Chris put me to bed, I tried to get out of the bed but took a fall and cut my lip open.”

Chris took Bridget back to hospital, and demanded the hospital staff carry out an MRI scan to see what was having this effect on his pregnant wife.

The MRI revealed that Bridget was having an unexplained brain haemorrhage, with doctors saying that if she wasn’t brought in when she was, she would have only survived two more hours.

A drain was placed directly into Bridget’s brain to draw out the excess blood, which was kept in for a month until the swelling subsided.

During this month, Bridget was hallucinating frequently and hardly recognised her own family – believing that her husband and the doctors were trying to kill her at one point.

“I don’t know if it was from the bleed itself, or the medication I was on, but I genuinely thought that my husband was trying to kill me and that the hospital staff was against me,” she explained.

Bridget suffered a brain haemorrhage two years ago whilst she was pregnant. Source: MEGA
Bridget suffered a brain haemorrhage two years ago whilst she was pregnant. Source: MEGA

After doctors confirmed that the brain haemorrhage was caused by a ruptured arteriovenous malformation (AVM), they delivered Bridget’s son, Roman, via caesarean section in November 2016.

“I had to undergo a c-section to give birth to my son two months after the rupture,” said Bridget.

“Luckily my baby was perfectly fine during all of this. They monitored him very closely.”

Nearly one year following her initial rupture, Bridget had an embolisation in order to block off blood vessels to prep for a future craniotomy.

“They basically go in with a glue called Onyx which is supposed to block blood flow to certain blood vessels and reduce any complications for the surgery,” Bridget explained.

“After the embolisation, doctors said they could cut off all blood flow going to the AVM. I’d have to have routine angiograms to check it, but it was announced cleared.”

However in March last year, a routine angiogram revealed that blood was still flowing to the AVM, so Bridget underwent radiation therapy which can take up to two years to eradicate the AVM.

“Due to the location of the AVM and with the embolism done, surgery was now considered too risky,” she said.

“My last option was radiation, which I had done on March 13, 2018, but it can take one or two years for radiation to obliterate the AVM.

Bridget with her husband Chris and their two children. Source: MEGA
Bridget with her husband Chris and their two children. Source: MEGA

“I have a lot more energy than I used to, but I’m still recovering. I think the recovery process from a stroke is a lifelong thing.”

The mum-of-two admitted she experiences side effects from time-to-time.

“I walk a little strange when I’m tired and moving my head from side to side makes me dizzy,” she said. “I also have a serious lack of balance now and my memory isn’t very good.

“Now though, I know what it’s like to be on the edge of death. I got into photography right after I had my stroke because I was obsessed with taking photos of my kids because I was likely to forget those moments.

“Having those photos were so important to me, and that just drove my passion to start taking photos. That would have never happened if it wasn’t for my stroke.”

You can see more of Bridget’s AVM recovery by visiting her Instagram page.

Reporting by MEGA.

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