Dad’s ‘ear infection’ turned out to be something potentially deadly
A dad-of-five nearly died after dismissing ear ache as a simple infection.
For two weeks, Adam Tradie, a 36-year-old from Swansea, was suffering. His left ear hurt, he had a headache, and it wouldn’t go away.
He had a solution – get it microsuctioned, a water-free procedure to clear the trickier blocked ears, and the infection should go away.
But the pain just kept getting worse, and antibiotics didn’t work. On the advice of his wife Katie, 30, Adam went to A&E.
‘I was being a typical bloke and didn’t plan on going to the doctor, but Katie pushed me to go to A&E’, Adam said.
He didn’t know it, but time was quickly running out. By the time he got to the hospital and video called Katie, Adam’s face had started to droop on one side.
His condition was deteriorating so quickly, he couldn’t make it inside alone. Katie had to call the hospital and send medics out to get him.
‘I was really sick’, he said. ‘I was in crippling pain. It buckled me to the floor.’
A CT scan revealed what was going on – there was no infection at all.
Instead, Adam had a subarachnoid haemorrhage – an uncommon stroke caused by bleeding on the surface of the brain.
‘They don’t know what caused it’, Adam said. ‘If they didn’t find it, it could have been fatal or have caused brain damage.’
He added: ‘It was terrifying. When they said it was a bleed on the brain, I was in shock.
‘My mum passed away when she was just 42 due to a brain aneurysm so I was instantly thinking the worst.
‘The thought of my children having to go through what I went through when I was younger was horrendous. It scared me. I was so relieved when they said it wasn’t an aneurysm.’
He is still in hospital after a surgery last Monday, and he must take medication and blood pressure tablets while doctors decide what to do next.
Adam is all too aware that he might not be alive if Katie hadn’t pushed him to get help.
He said: ‘I want people who have any similar symptoms to have them checked out. Don’t let anyone fob you off.
‘Keep pushing. If you’re under a certain age, there are tests that they don’t offer. It can happen to anyone.’
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