"When I was 8 (I am now 13), I got a very bad headache in my gym class, I felt dizzy and my vision was blurred. At that moment I thought if it had something to do with the fact that about a month before at school I could no longer feel my hand and the pencil fell out of my fingers. Back to the gym class: I went to my teacher and told her I wasn't feeling so well. I was allowed to go home. When I got home, my mother told me I had to go to the doctor, so I got a little scared.
Diagnosis attempt: Severe migraine When I got to the doctor, he examined me from head to toe and said it was just a bad migraine and I should go home and sleep. If it didn't get better after sleeping, I would have to come back. I was given some more tablets to take at home. I did so, but 10 minutes later I threw up. After that I went to sleep for 1 hour, as my family doctor had told me. When I woke up again, however, I still had a headache. My vision was blurry and I was still very dizzy. I told my mother and then I had to go to the children's hospital. There they examined me again from A to Z and told us not to worry, that I just had a severe migraine.
Suddenly blind in one eye 2 days later I was about to read my report card when I read all the letters wrong and mixed up a with o or e with i. I got scared and immediately told my teacher. I got scared and immediately told my mother and I had to go to the doctor again after about 4 hours of examination. It was about 3 months later, I was just at home and was about to go to my room when I bumped into my mother. She asked me if I hadn't seen her. Then I had to confess to her that since that incident in gym class, I could no longer see out of my right eye. She was frightened and then I had to go back to the children's hospital.
Long journey through the hospital world There it went again like this: Examinations, examinations, examinations. Again they found nothing wrong, but they gave me an appointment for the tube (computer tomography). Two weeks later I had to go into the tube, where they found that my blood supply in my brain was not sufficient. I was given another appointment for an EEG. After this EEG, I found out that I had Moyamoya angiopathy. My first thought was What is Moyamoya? At the beginning of December, I went with my parents to Zurich to the hospital where I was to be operated on 8 January. In Zurich we talked to Prof. Yonekawa (the doctor who operated on me, together with Dr. Khan) and he explained everything about Moyamoya and how the operation would proceed. Days later the time had come. On 4 January 2007, I was admitted to the clinic, and on 8 January, the 10-hour (12 with shaving and stitches) operation took place.
Destiny Thank God, today I can look back with one laughing eye and one crying eye. Laughing, because everything went well, and crying, because this time took a lot out of all of us emotionally. I remember the time in the hospital very fondly. Of all the dear doctors, the staff, and the other patients I had grown fond of. Above all, I would like to thank Dr Khan from the bottom of my heart, who supported me so lovingly throughout this time, right up to the present day. Also to the big dinner we had when I was allowed to return home after two weeks. However, it took me a while to get used to the fact that my long hair had been shaved down to nothing.... I think it goes without saying that when you are 8 years old, you get very attached to such things... Today, however, I know that these are fortunately only minute details and that I can just be infinitely grateful every day that I am now a happy and healthy teenager despite the great shock, despite the difficult hours, despite a lot of crying."