9.
“I was in a coma for six days last year, because I collapsed at home from pneumonia. I was sedated and intubated. I remember not feeling well, and needing to sleep in the recliner, then some blips, a ride in an ambulance, some very violent dreams and nightmares, then literally waking up during a nightmare about attending my own funeral. The nightmares were so real, I can still recount them in detail…it felt like lifetimes. Honestly, it changed a lot about how I view things.”
“It took me around three days to re-orient to 2024, and that I hadn’t died, and hadn’t lost our younger son to violence. In fact, I only had one kid, anyway, and he was hale hearty and right there. For days, though, I was suspicious that people just didn’t want to tell me that one of my two kids died, he had a name and everything. It was fucking terrifying. I had what they call ‘coma dementia’ for about 3–4 months after. I had to relearn everything: walking, talking, fine motor skills, everything. I couldn’t even feed myself the first week, could basically only move my fingers.
I have everything back; I worked really hard after that to get healthy and fix so many things. I feel lucky; I got to attend my own funeral, and came back from it. I always appreciated life, but after all that? I know it’s cliche, but every day I wake up, I just fucking treasure it.”
—Arachne93