#12. Yes, it counts

“Does it count if I woke up in hospital surprised with the results? I went in for a stomach operation, woke up and said ‘oh, huh, it doesn’t hurt that bad.’

My surgeon, mother, anesthesiologist, and two nurses all looked super awkward and said, ‘Well.. We didn’t do the surgery. You had an allergic reaction to one of the drugs given to you in the anesthetic process and flatlined. We spent 40 minutes stabilizing you’.

I was absolutely in awe. I felt fine until I started to get clammy, then my BP went to 40/20 again, and I passed out.

Spent four (?) days in ICU and a week in total in hospital.”

#13. “Ohhh, that’s why…”

“I woke up in a hospital bed feeling fine, no idea what happened.

Nobody else in the room.

Last person I remember hanging out with was my friend, Scott, so I call his house. His mom answered, advised me to call my parents.

No answer at the home phone.

So I’m sitting in this bed, trying to figure out why I’m even there. I finally discover that the rolling table over the bed opens up, and there’s a mirror under the lid.

Across my forehead and down the whole right side of my face are fresh abrasions. ‘Ohhh, that’s why…’

Finally get hold of Scott and learn the story (which I still don’t remember).

Was riding my bike down a sidewalk near the grade school. Sidewalk takes a 45 degree left turn, and I cut the corner. Grass is deep, and a little wet, and my front wheel catches on the edge of the sidewalk, flipping me over. I landed on my face, dragged against the other edge of the sidewalk, knocked out cold.

Another neighborhood kid was in the area, hustled back to alert my parents. My Dad took me to the hospital in his car, and I woke up the next day.

Yes, my parents just left me in the hospital by myself.”