Paul Russell (SAH)

On Saturday December 11, 2021 Paul got up for work like he always does on a Saturday morning, it had taken his Gram a few times calling him that morning for him to actually get out of bed. He had finally gotten out of bed and went downstairs to the basement to have his morning coffee and cigarette. He was down there for quite some time. He had texted his wife Stephanie a couple times and finally headed back upstairs to go and take his shower. He got all his clothes set out and then proceeded to get in the shower. A little while later his son Ayden heard a loud sound but didn't think anything of it. Paul then called for his mom Janet, she headed up to the 2nd floor to see what was the matter. She opened the door to the bathroom and Paul was sitting on the toilet with a towel draped over him holding his head saying he had “the worst headache of his life” and it felt like a heartbeat. Janet asked Paul if he was OK and if she wanted him to call 911 Paul responded I am covered in soap still, I fell in the shower and I can’t remember how I got there. Paul then told Janet that he was going to get back into the shower to wash the soap off his body. In the meantime Janet stayed outside the bathroom door in case he called for her again. In that short time she phoned his wife Stephanie and said something is wrong with Paul, he has a headache and he passed out in the shower and didn’t remember how he got there. Paul had then exited the shower and had fallen again, this time Janet was in hysterics and his wife Stephanie was screaming call “911” we had no idea what was happening but the ambulance was on the way. Stephanie had made it to the house before the ambulance had left. A retired EMT/firefighter a close friend and neighbor(will not disclose name for privacy) was also called by Pauls Grandma and he had come rushing over to help out. In the meantime we had found out by medical providers that Paul was seizing on the bathroom floor. Pauls sister Denise was also contacted and made it to the house before the ambulance left. In shock and scared Janet, Stephanie, and Denise just stood there and cried not knowing what was going on with Paul. Finally they had brought Paul down on a stretcher where he was clearly having seizures, his eyes were rolled in the back of his head and he was making noises but not speaking. Both Stephanie and Denise walked along side the stretcher telling Paul he would be ok and we loved him and kept asking if he could hear us but no response. As the ambulance was getting ready to leave Stephanie, Janet, and Denise agreed that Stephanie should be the one to follow the ambulance to the hospital with all of Pauls information, while the two of them stayed at home with the children and contacted who needed to be contacted. Stephanie then ran upstairs and collected all of Pauls medications, wallet, keys, and his clothes in case he would be discharged that night. She then headed to Hartford Hospital where he was being transported. Once inside the emergency room she said “Im here to see my husband Paul Russell who was brought in by ambulance.” At this point they were still working on Paul trying to get the seizures under control, which we had no idea what was going on.  They then stated to come on back and brought Stephanie into a family meeting room where it felt like forever to get any answers. Finally after a long wait and texting back and forth with Janet a Dr. from the emergency room came in and sat down. He explained to me that they were still working on getting Paul stable and had run a CT scan and what they found was not good. Paul had suffered from a subarachnoid hemorrhage in his brain and there was a lot of blood and they needed to stop the bleed. Stephanie’s first thought was “NO” not my husband, not the father of my children, not my mother in laws son, and Denise’s brother. Her heart shattered in a million pieces and she asked the Dr. with tears streaming down her face, “Is he going to make it through this?” The Dr explained that they were doing everything that could at the moment to stop the bleed and because Janet acted so fast with calling 911 and getting medical attention as quick as he did that he had a significant chance of recovery……………………(to be continued with updates starting with day 1 out of the emergency room and into the ICU)