Tip #4

Familiarize yourself with your surroundings. Get to know the closest hospital near your residence and the fastest way to get there. This applies to residents and visitors. When we moved to Kampala, Uganda, we spend the first month just trying to familiarize ourselves with the hospitals in the area and the level of care they provided. Knowing the quality and level of care hospitals near you provide is especially important if you are living overseas and particularly in the developing countries. When an emergency hits, time is of an essence. 

Tip #3

Know basic CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). Knowing what to do especially in the initial stages when you are caught in an emergency scenario can save a life or help reduce the severity of potential adverse effects during and after treatment. The American Heart Association and The Red Cross are the most common organizations that offer CPR training classes for both caregivers and healthcare providers. I would encourage you and your family members, including children above the age of 5 years old, to take a CPR course for caregivers. I tend to think that if my husband had not known how to perform CPR, my story would have been different right now. I became unconscious in less than 3 minutes of me requesting him to give me an aspirin and having taken it. Everything was happening so fast. I started to vomit while at the same time biting on my tongue. That was a perfect scenario that could have easily led to aspiration. With his CPR knowledge, he knew exactly what to do. That was to either keep me in an upright position or side-lying while keeping the airway open. 

Tip #2

Get a primary care physician. Most people who consider themselves “healthy” do not see the need to have a primary care physician. The reasoning behind it is that why do you need to go and look for problems if none exists. The fact is, many lives are saved through those physical assessments and preventative care measures. So, get a primary care physician and talk to him or her about your family history and any health concerns that you might have. Remember to keep up with your dental appointments as well.

I will be sharing all the 13 tips( post by post) from my book : Tips on surviving a Brain Aneurysm.

Tip #1

Be curious about your family history. No matter

how old you are, it helps to learn about the members of

underlying health issues they might have. That will

your family, both immediate and extended, and any

enable you to become familiar with those conditions

and assess yourself if you might be at risk. Even though

family history does not always pose a risk to an

individual, it does not hurt to educate yourself. For my

case, I have no family history of the brain aneurysm.