For most women, childbirth is a memorable event.
Not so for Dunedin woman Krystle Kelly (37) who has no recollection of the arrival of her younger daughter Lily, now 2, delivered by Caesarean section while she was in a coma.
But the date of January 28, 2021 is now etched in Miss Kelly’s memory. What started as an ordinary day was to escalate with potentially fatal consequences.
She was 35 weeks pregnant and had gone on maternity leave from the business she co-owns in Dunedin which provides hydrotherapy and rehabilitation for dogs.
Enjoying coffee with a friend at her favourite coffee haunt, Nichol’s Garden Cafe, she complained of a sudden bad headache and sore neck.
Fortunately, her friend was a breastfeeding support person and clued up on pregnancy. Concerned about pre-eclampsia, she took her to Dunedin Hospital where that was also the initial concern.
But it was not pre-eclampsia. She had an aneurysm — an abnormal bulge or ballooning in the wall of a blood vessel — in her brain which had ruptured.
While talking to a triage nurse, Miss Kelly collapsed, had a seizure and lost consciousness. She woke up five weeks later in intensive care in Christchurch and discovered she had given birth to her second child.
Lily was delivered in Dunedin and Miss Kelly was flown by fixed-wing air ambulance to Christchurch the following day.
The rescue helicopter had been on stand-by but she had another stroke and needed to be stabilised before heading north.
Her partner Nick flew with her to make sure she got through brain surgery and then flew home the next day and picked up baby Lily from NICU and the couple’s elder daughter Ellie, who had stayed with a friend.
The trio travelled to Christchurch at weekends to be with Miss Kelly before she was transferred back to Dunedin and then ISIS.
She acknowledged she was "very, very lucky". Firstly, that she was with her friend at the cafe — "if I was alone ... sometimes this happens, a person has a bad headache and they lie down and never wake up" — and then with her recovery.
Medical professionals were "blown away" with that recovery. While in a coma, her partner and family were told to prepare for the possibility she would not survive and, if she did, that she was unlikely to be the same person as before.
When she was first brought out of the coma, she was speaking gibberish so she was put back under for a few days. The second time, she woke being able to speak and move her body.
Miss Kelly has an image on her mobile phone of a brain scan which clearly showed an area of brain damage but, luckily, it did not affect her speech or movement.
Miss Kelly was also incredibly grateful to hospital staff — from the moment she stepped foot in the emergency department at Dunedin Hospital to leaving ISIS — they were all "phenomenal".
"I cannot fault any of the hospital staff. If it wasn’t for the healthcare system, I wouldn’t be sitting here today. It was incredible," she said
As she talks, she is again having a coffee at Nichol’s Garden Cafe, which has continued to be a favourite venue.
But — as she indicates the table behind her — she never sits in the seat where she first complained of a headache.
Miss Kelly is keen to spread the word that life can continue after a major brain injury — and it can be successful. Her own business, Aqua Paws, is "thriving".
Originally from Invercargill, Miss Kelly has lived in Dunedin for more than 10 years. It was while working in the veterinary industry as a vet nurse that she noticed a gap in care after dogs had orthopaedic surgery, or sustained muscle injuries, post-veterinary treatment.
The rehabilitation industry for dogs internationally was far more advanced than in New Zealand and growing rapidly, although New Zealand was now slowly catching up.
She started researching rehabilitation and came across courses overseas. Both in the United States and further afield, a lot more was being done for dogs post-injury.
Before the arrival of her first child, she did a canine rehabilitation course through the University of Tennessee.
She went to South Africa for a month where she saw an underwater treadmill operating and "fell in love with it" and flew to Japan to do her exams.
Miss Kelly later met her now business partner Louise Marsh who was keen to buy a treadmill. They formed a partnership, ordered a treadmill and, five years later, it was a "busy little business’, operating Dunedin’s only hydrotherapy service.
She was full of praise for her business partner who, before Miss Kelly’s aneurysm, did not really work in the business. She had to pick up where Miss Kelly left off, with no handover, and did an "amazing" job.
While it was a very different environment, most dogs soon started loving it, usually encouraged at first with some treats.
Some were so keen that they tried to get on the treadmill before their harness was on while one customer barked with excitement all the way to the Helensburgh clinic.
From tiny chihuahuas to towering Great Danes, Miss Kelly treated them all and she acknowledged her work gave her "so much joy".
"It’s the same as vet nursing, no-one’s in it for the money. It’s for the work satisfaction because it feels good to nurse an animal through injury," she said.
On average, Aqua Paws sees between 40 and 50 dogs a week.
Asked if she had favourites, Miss Kelly said they were "pretty much all" her favourites.
"They all have their own personalities and are all pretty amazing."
Miss Kelly has been accepted for an animal osteopathy course through Animal Osteopathy International, which is doing a bespoke New Zealand course, accepting about six students.
She also worked closely with Southland-based vet Christina Rock, of Happy Hound Vet, Southland’s first certified canine rehabilitation therapist.
As to having her own dogs? Miss Kelly laughed that she was always known as "the crazy dog lady" before setting up Aqua Paws.
They had all slowly died of old age and she did not have any dogs, although her elder daughter kept asking for one.
With her partner and herself both running their own businesses — and coping with a brain injury — she did not feel she was able to give a dog what it deserved at the moment.
"Luckily, I get to pour all my love into these dogs I see. If I wasn’t doing this, I’d struggle more without a dog," she said.
At some stage, when her girls were older and life was slightly less chaotic, the family would get another dog.
Miss Kelly admitted she probably dived back into work too quickly after her recovery and ended up back in hospital.
She had neuro-fatigue so had to be very mindful of how much she was doing in a day. Aqua Paws’ first employee was hired late last year and that had made "such a huge difference" as she could focus on the business without burning herself out.
She still had to pace herself and, until recently, had to take naps during the day. That was not always easy with two active young children.
When it came to studying, computer work was particularly tiring and she had to take lots of breaks.
While she was in a coma, the hospital staff told her mother to take photographs of her as she would not comprehend what had happened when she woke up.
"I still can’t believe that’s me lying there," she said, flicking through photographs on her phone.
When she was lucid enough, her biggest concern was about bonding with her baby but she had had nothing to worry about. Staff had also arranged for the pair to have skin-to-skin contact while she was unconscious.
Miss Kelly had no recollection of when she was told what had happened and she now had little time to dwell on the experience.
Scans were done every year and the coil inserted in her brain was checked and that was "peace of mind".
"Life’s good — chaotic but I wouldn’t change a thing."
Another momentous date is looming — her wedding on January 27 next year, the day before her aneurysm anniversary.
On that day, her partner was on a digger working on the foundations of the couple’s new house when he received the bad news.
"I’ll marry him. He’s a goodie," she smiled.
