my D Day anniversary
Please forgive me for taking up your time with this post, however, it is 'supposed to' be therapeutic to 'get it out'. You needen't comment, I just needed to get this out
the following is second hand knowledge to me, partially, about me:
Today is a somber day for me/my family/my loved ones, those that knew me then:
It was the afternoon of Thursday, October 3, 1985, I was 1 week shy of my "15 1/2 birthday", (I am 41 1/2 now). I had come home from class, (just into the 2nd month of my junior year). Instead of the usual going to the fridge to get a snack, I went straight to my room and laid down, telling my Mother that I was going to take a nap, as I had a terrible headache the entire day, and was going to try to get rid of it. I had awoken to eat dinner with the family, but shortly thereafter, I made a beeline to the restroom, needing to vomit. It wasn't the food at dinner. Within the next few hrs my headache intensified, and the vomiting continued, only to add another symptom, sensitivity to light. (These are all classic signs of a migraine, of which I have never had), thus my Mother knew that something else was wrong. 9-1-1 was called, and by the time the paramedics arrived, I was already into "Status Epileptus", a potentially fatal situation, where I went from one Grand Mal seizure, to another. While trying to establish an IV on me, there were 5 firefighters/paramedics holding me down, (usually a no-no, but they were trying to establish an IV to get drugs into me to stop the convulsions), however, I was throwing each of them off of me, in the hyper-adrenalized state, without CONSCIOUSLY knowing what my body was doing. Finally they were able to get the IV started, me stabilized, and transported to the Hospital. When we arrived, I was taken into CT Scan, where they discovered that my right ventricular atrial shunt, had "failed", meaning it pulled out of the right ventricle of my heart, the doctors surmised, because of my age at the time, it was due to a growth spurt.
So the neurosurgeon told my parents what happened/what was going to happen, (as the operating Room was being prepped. The operation lasted roughly 10 hours. The resulting effects of the shunt failure included, I went into respiratory arrest, and cardiac arrest a few times. However, The damage to my brain amongst other areas were the part that controls the proportion of CO2 and O2 in the blood gases, my short term memory, the area of the brain that controlled the part of the lungs that 'close off' when eating/drinking, the entire left side of my body lost the muscle tone, as well, was/still is weaker). I also attained sleep apoenia from this, which is the period during sleeping when your body goes long periods of time without taking a breath. I had a tracheotomy performed on me, and was put on a ventilator for 6 weeks, after being moved from surgery to the ICU unit, where I would spend the next 6 weeks. I was not coherent, but was conscious. However, due to the severity of the damage, as well the tracheotomy, I was unable to speak, hence, and be the Glory of God, my body went into 'autopilot' and I started using Sign Language, SEE Sign, vs ASL (that I had known from 3rd grade on). I could fingerspell that which I was trying to say, as my sight/coordination was not well enough to write. That took a LOT of patience on my part, as I had come to find out that hardly ANYONE knew Sign Language. At any rate I had several times a day blood taken also known as ABG's-Arterial Blood Gases), they hurt like a SON -of-a-Bitch!
After 6 weeks of being in the ICU, I was transferred to the IMCU, (Intermediate Care Unit), that is a step-down from ICU, and a step away from Med/Surg Floor. Anyway, the therapist came to work with me, and one of the (Straight) male therapists, said to my parents" Does he have any posters that you can bring?"
"Yes"
The next day they returned with 4 posters of models, (I hadn't told them that I was gay at that age), so the therapist met my parents again, and came into my room. Moving my bed aside, he got a chair, and proceeded to hang the posters ON THE CEILING! (no joke). (2 of an 80s model/Playboy centerfold/singer Samantha Fox, 1 of a model named Claudia, and another one of one named Marla. His reason for doing this, explaining to my parents, was that this way I, (my eyes) would be constantly taking in information----OOPS, they're the WRONG SEX MA!!!! Ha ha! So the running joke, between the orderlies/male nurses/doctors while I was in that room, was: "Hey, have you seen Room 420?" "No, why?" "Don't ask why, just go in, nd look up!" (I had SO many orderlies, doctors, male nurses, therapists stop by....that didnt even know me, or have me as their patient.).
So Now after being in IMCU for 6 weeks I was able move to a reg Med/Surg floor, where I had a trauma waiting to happen. (Oh first, I need to say, this is the point where I resumed taking only 2 courses in High School, while still hospitalized. My roommate was in his early 60s, whom I had befriended(as well his adult daughter). We became friends, exchanging "Hi's", and Asking how our day went, etc. (Long Story Short)...I was conversing with him one daythru a closed/drawn curtain, and we had come to the end of the conversation, and I/we had been silent for a good 10 minutes. I, then started up again, only this time to no answer. I called him yet again....No answer. So I rang the nurses' station. They came in, I told them about my roomie not answering me, then they went around the curtain to him. IMMEDIATELY after thatI was met by other nurses and a wheelchair, saying "It's going to be alright" I'm thinking, HUH? Then I see the 'crash cart'-the emergency cart with the paddles for restarting your heart, with a nurse pushing it rapidly, into my room. I was told to stay at the nurse's station for awhile. This while turned into an hour, and me losing a roommate. AS IF THAT WASN'T HARD ENOUGH, the daughter hadn't made it to the hospital in time, and I was back in my room. When she asked where her Dad was, I didnt have to (verbally) say anything, - you know the saying 'a look is worth a million words'? She started crying and I called the nurse.
After I got out of the hospital, I had to be home schooled, as I was still in no condition to return to campus. The rest of Junior year was uneventful!
By taking a full academic load, both semesters of my Senior Year, I was able to graduate with MY Class.
(I am NOT bragging about this next statement, just stating a very cool fact)
Come graduation, I was the ONLY student in my school's history, even to this day, to get a Standing Ovation, when walking down the aisle to receive my diploma, by BOTH the Faculty, and my ENTIRE Class, roughly 220.
Thanks for listening to my self therapy on my "Life-changing day"!
so do I!!!
