The Odds

I would end up walking some time later. I found my nose plugged with tubes. I pulled these out and blinked at the light in the room. (I still was not aware of what had happened to me). My immediate thought was I had simply passed out, and would be okay to run and play with the other kids like always). My mother was in the room, and I did not understand why she was crying when I asked her to write me a note for my math teacher, telling him I had passed out and was unable to do the homework for that week.

Math was a subject that I did not care for at that age, and still given the choice between numbers and words I would gladly save words every time (ten out of ten times to be exact). I was made aware of what happened when a nurse came to the room and asked if I could tell her the date. I replied with what I thought the answer to be. “May, 2003. (I did not know what the day of the month had been before, regardless). Now for the rest of my life I will know and remember May fifteenth.

As it turned out, my guess was wrong. And every time I was repeatedly asked this question I would be wrong. What happened during my prolonged sleep was this: Due to the swelling on my brain and the severity of the injury I had had a craniectomy. This is when a piece of the skull is removed to allow for swelling. (In this case it was my brain). Stroke can fall into many categories and there are many severity levels of stroke. For instance, New England Patriot’s line backer Teddy Bruschi suffered a stroke and ended up returning to football.

The severity of my stroke was staggering. Along with the craniectomy I was placed into a medicated coma. This was to allow my brain and body the best chance of survival. By the way, my chances of surviving the stroke were a whole five percent. Meaning I had an A level of work to die, and a slim chance of living. What five percent looks like is out of 100 people there would be just five left. Of 1,000 people. There would only be 50 people left.