My older sister's 50th wedding anniversary was planned for Sunday, Sept. 3, in Wichita, Kan. Her four children had planned the celebration for more than a year and we were all looking forward to the party set in a restored Victorian mansion.

The party was going beautifully when I suddenly felt ill with a headache and nausea. My husband and I left for our hotel because I felt I needed to lie down immediately. He put the car passenger seat back for me so I could rest on the way. When we got to the hotel, I was feeling dizzy and unsteady on my feet. At 58 years of age, I was healthy and thought that after a bout that night of vomiting and continued headache, I probably had food poisoning. The following morning we were scheduled to go to Kansas City with my brother to fly back home.

In the morning, I was very drowsy and didn't feel like waking up. My husband, a physician, stayed with me until checkout time, then we started for Kansas City. I slept in the car until we got to our destination. On Tuesday morning I got up and started getting ready to go to the airport but still felt drowsy and went back to bed, which was totally unlike me. My husband was worried because I just couldn't stay awake except for short periods of time. He called a friend who is a physician in Kansas City to get a recommendation for a neurologist and hospital. They both thought I might have been bitten by a mosquito and contracted encephalitis. I didn't have any specific symptoms of stroke - weakness on the side, a change in speech - but my level of consciousness was diminished.

I didn't want to go to the emergency room, but my husband insisted. By taking me to St. Joseph's Hospital in Kansas City he saved my life. The CAT scan they did in the emergency room showed that I had blood in my brain on the right temporal area.

The neurologists started an immediate treatment of steroids to decrease the swelling in my brain. I was in the intensive-care unit for five days at St. Joseph's, where an MRI and arteriogram were performed and it was established that I did not have a brain tumor or aneurysm. The neuroradiologist said that was the good news; the bad news was that I had an arterial-venous malformation (AV malformation), a bad connection between the arteries and veins in my brain. I was transferred by ambulance to another hospital, where I received an arteriogram with an embolization to decrease the number of arteries that lead into the malformation. This is a specialized procedure that has been developed in the past decade.

The arterial embolization at St. Luke's stabilized my condition so I was able to go to rehabilitation therapy to test for any disability or weakness. There were therapists there who helped build my stamina and determine my physical condition in case surgery was required. I was tested by a physical therapist, occupational therapist and cognitive therapist. At the end of 10 days, I went back to St. Luke's for a CT scan which showed that a repeat arteriogram was needed.

I stayed in the hospital for four days following surgery and was released to my brother's home for two weeks. I returned to my home in Idaho Falls at the end of October after two months in hospitals in Kansas City. I am cured with no disability. I am truly blessed.

I want to share this experience with others to inform them of this condition, which is not known by many. Without my husband, Dr. James E. Pickens, and my daughter, Gina, I would not have survived this medical emergency.

My main purpose in this article is to inform others that it is important to be prepared for the unexpected. I know the regimen my husband has recommended for me over many years made my body strong enough to come back with flying colors.

I have recovered from my cerebral hemorrhage with no disability, and I was only in the hospital four days following my craniotomy. I could not have done this without the preparatory health program my husband shared with me.

Keep yourself in the best general health possible, which includes an optimum weight as well as muscle fitness and good vitamin and supplement intake. Be ready for the unexpected!