I had no independence for the month and a half that I was in ICU, Transition and Rehab. I needed it badly; I was not even allowed to attend my bodily functions without a chaperone because my motor skills were compromised. I was convinced I could walk but falling on my face proved me wrong. Not in my right mind, I was determined to leave the hospital and don’t know why the nurses got so uptight since all I could do was sit up in bed, I certainly couldn’t leave.
I stayed in transition for a week before I was admitted into a rehab facility to recover my motor skills. Needless to say I was very weak and fatigued. I made an appointment with the dentist to have my teeth cleaned while still in rehab as Danny was allowed to check me out for short excursions. At the dentist’s office I vomited and then had a seizure in the
dental chair and woke up in an ambulance. The seizure turned out not to be a big deal mostly brought on by my trying to do too much too soon coupled with the strain of having vomited.I did well in rehab and after 3 weeks I was ready to go home. The entire time I was there, I kept saying, “I just want “my life” back.”
I am now at the end of my recovery and am still shocked by the turn my life took.
I thank God, family, friends and medical staff for their love and support
This is being written in hopes of putting the experience behind me. What I know about traumatic experiences is that most often you need to talk about them until you don’t. I find myself repeating the story over and over mostly in response to the question, “What happened?” Sometimes I think I talk about it because I feel like it defines me. I also want to know “Why” it happened. A cause could be aspiration of food or mucus due to my GERD but there is no way of knowing for sure.
I am now at the end of my recovery and finally have “my life” back. The good thing is that I have not let it keep me down for I am a survivor.