Aneurysm

The expansion of a vein, artery, or the heart due to the weakening of the wall of the vessel via disease, injury, or birth defect. Can be caused/aggrivated by high blood pressure. Not always fatal, but nearly always serious, and when one bursts in the brain, a stroke can occur. (When an aneurysm occurs in the brain and causes a stroke, it's called a hemorrhagic stroke.)

They can be detected with an x-ray angiography, MRIs, and/or Computed Tomography. Symptoms of brain aneurysms include blurred vision and headaches, but often there are no symptoms of anything wrong.

These things are treated with surgery, which can include a metal clip attached at the bottom of the bulbous vessel or insertion of microcoils into the aneurysm itself.

I came home later than usual yesterday, and when i walked in the door, there was my roommate in all her glory.

Well, whaddaya know, it's the queen of the cold-cream lagoon...
So after our usual exchange of pleasantries, such as 'Have you bought more toilet paper?' (SHIT! Knew I was forgetting something.), 'What's that smell?' and 'What the fuck is this doing on my side of the room?', she happened to mention that a guy called for me.

'Who?'

'I forgot'
'Did he say a name?'

'I can't remember'
'Didn't you write it down the message?'

'What, and miss the Zantac commercial?'
( Am I missing something here? She didn't want to miss a commercial?)
'So you don't know who it was?'

'Just said that, didn't I?'
'And you didn't write it down?'

'NO!'

This really pissed me off. A male finally calls for me, and she doesn't even get all the info?

'Was it my dad?'

'I don't think so.'
'Who did he ask for?'

'You'
'Yeah, but did he say 'Is Ms. Ross there' or did he use my name?'

'He used your name.'
'You sure?'

'Yeah, actually it was weird because he used your full name, like your dad does.'
'But it wasn't my dad, right?'

'Right'

So this is weird. Aside from my dad, the only people who know my full name are THIS DODO HERE NEXT TO ME, and the people who read my college applications. Oh, and also Jeff.

'Was it Jeff?'

'Jeff?'
'My stepbrother?'

'Nah.'
'How do you know?'

'Because he didn't call me Mustard-face'
(That's what you call her, Jeff? Way to go! Wish I'd thought of it ...)
'So it wasn't him. And it wasn't my dad?'

'Will you stop it already? It wasn't your dad, and it wasn't Jeff, and I can't rememember, OKAY?'
'NO IT'S NOT OKAY! SOME GUY CALLED FOR ME AND YOU DIDN'T TAKE A MESSAGE! What happened to the message pad i bought?'

'Message pad?'
'Yeah, the one that says 'while you were gone...'

'I was busy, alright? I TOLD YOU'
'Fuck you and your busy. Doing what? What were you watching that commercial for anyway?'

'Fuck yourself, bitch, you are so clueless'(What is it about the commercial?)
'So was the commercial worth it?'

'I don't know'
'Why not?'

'I hadda go pee in middle.'
'WHAT? You couldn't take a message for me, but it was okay to go pee?!?!'

'Sheesh, you know, you shouldn't yell like that! Your face is all red and the veins on your neck stick out.'
'I'M MAD AT YOU!'

'Is it PMS?'
'NO ITS NOT PMS, I JUST HAD A HARD DAY, AND I'M WAITING FOR THIS GUY I MET LAST WEEK TO CALL, AND MY FEET HURT AND I'M GOING TO BED, OKAY!?'

'So are you available for phonecalls?'

GOD, WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?

An aneurism begins just like any other headache -- a sort of pounding behind the eyes, a dislike of loud noises and bright lights, you know the sort.

But instead of getting better, it gets worse. Before it gets too unbearable, however, wierd stuff starts happening. You get pins and needles, perhaps in your leg, or maybe an arm. It starts quite faint, and right in the extremities -- toes, or fingers.

It begins spreading, and then your affected limb turns numb. The headache is getting worse, and you're finding it dificult to move your limbs, partly because they're numb, and partly because your mind is losing control over them (What is happening, in fact, is that the brain is shutting down the affected areas out of self-preservation)

Eventually you pass out. If you are lucky, or blessed, or just have very good doctors, you wake up again. Generally, the pain in your head is intense, and you rely on morphine for several months. You learn to talk again. You learn to walk again (Although success in any of these areas is not at all guaranteed. Some people end up as living, breathing vegetables). You start recovering your memory (oh, I forgot to mention that memory is severely affected, and most of the first month or two after recovering consciousness is a blur at best, and mostly a blank).

And, if you are like the person I write about, two years later you can walk (albeit with a limp) but not run, your mind works pretty well, although every so often you forget things (actually, she's kinda absent-minded now) and you are a totally different person after the 6 months of hell and absolute destruction and rebuilding you have gone through.

Show me someone who has had an aneurism and survived, and I will show you someone stronger than me.

---

montecarlo pointed out that not all aneurisms are in the head, and those that aren't don't give you a headache.

Any blood vessel rupturing can cause an aneurism, although I believe this most frequently happens in the brain. Where it happens elsewhere (ie, in a leg) it can cause serious damage to that limb, sometimes leading to amputation.