What Fears You Have When Your Eyes 1st Open? By Denny C

                Okay, so what happened the 1^st time the “whole me” woke up?  While I had been awake for over 4 weeks , and had been working with those in physical, speech, cognitive, and music therapy, the whole me was still not awake.   Have you ever seen “50 First Dates” with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler?  There is an actor, who is in most if not all of Mr. Sandler’s movies named Allen Covert. His character is called Ten Second Tom.  Every time I watch that movie, I laugh in total understanding of that character.  Now while I don’t remember how long it would take for me to  forget those I would meet for the first time, if you walked way or started talking to someone else , then came back to me , I might not have remembered who you are!

                So when I woke up on June 29^th at 4:19 in the morning, the 1^st thing I saw was the roof and the walls of a hospital room.  I then started feeling around my body with my hands.  My left should was really sore, hmm but nothing keeping it immobile.  See I grew up in a medical family.  My father has been a registered nurse since 1972, and is still working full time at the age of 71 years old!  My mother has worked in the medical field as well and is still over an OBGYN’s office for over the last 30 years. Both my sisters have been R.N. and L.P.N.  I was even a physical therapist assistant while in high school, at Bass Hospital, now owned by Integris in Enid. Oklahoma.  I said all of this to explain why I was feeling my body to see if I could tell why I was in a hospital. 

                So I then felt my head, I had no hair, just stubble, due to it now started growing back, no bandages, no iv’s, no catheter, whew, I’m glad no catheter.  But what I did feel scared me, the incision that was healing around my head! What?  Why? Where is somebody?  There was no one sitting or sleeping by my bed!  And then the greatest fear pressed against my heart, where is my wife and kids? Are they alive, are they dead, are they in the hospital as well?  I then began to scream and a nurse ran in and said, “Denny, you do know your name is Denny?”  I said, “Yes, where is my family?”  She said, “They are home asleep, and you need to go back to sleep, or be quiet, there’s another patient in here with you.”  I said, “Ok, I understand.”  I did understand.  At this time, I cannot tell why I did not know where I was.  Oh, there will be more on all of this in future blogs to come, but next week’s blog might be odd to you, the reader, due to what I saw moments before I woke up that day, whom I spoke to, and what this person said, to me.