Not alone

I wanted to write about this a couple of weeks ago but I was told I should write some positive posts and I am worried that is might not be positive. A couple of weeks ago I went to a seminar called ‘Not Alone’. It is for people who have survived a cardiac arrest. I was really looking forward to meeting up with people who are also survivors. I thought like as with SCAD I was ready to do this. Well it has been two years. The day was very different from the SCAD day as there were lots of men there and everyone had a heart problem. There were so many different types of people there and it was hard to see who were the cardiac arrest survivors and who weren’t. There were some interesting talks but some seemed to be aimed at professionals and not survivors but I wouldn’t criticise anyone for that. The afternoon sessions were more survivor based and there was a survivor who shared her story which was very emotional, I just wished I could of cried. At lunchtime I wanted to talk to one of the speakers as there was no mention of brain injury. I asked if you have a cardiac arrest, do you then have a brain injury. Two of the ladies both said no, you don’t always have a brain injury. This just knocked me for six. I just assumed that you would have one. Why do I have one? Who can I ask about this? I thought I really understood what happened to me but now I feel like I am back at the beginning again. The day was meant to show cardiac arrest survivors that they are not alone, but I feel very alone.