I pieced together most of it with the help of my folks. Sometimes they were reluctant to tell me all the things I went through, but frankly I find it all fascinating.
So I coded at the beginning, but the medical staff got my heart going again, And, I don't remember seeing anything cool at all. So that's a bummer.
And apparently I had pneumonia while I was in the thick of it all and had that tube thing in my mouth. The medical staff had to drain fluid out of my lungs with a tube or something they stuck down my throat. Again, I don't remember that all. Bummer again, as that seems like something I would want to remember.
So to pick up where I left off, I was at Mount Vernon Hospital recovering and listen to 70s sitcoms that my room neighbor was watching.
I went off solid foods to machined foods and back to real food. Fruit, Jello and Ginger Ale got me through all that.
I continued to do my physical therapy and daily walks as I was weened off my heavier medications. This is when I started to develop a general dislike of my nurses. I started noticing little things they would do or actually say they were going to do and didn't. Admittedly, I was just being surly and annoyed at my situation, and you can't see what goes on outside the room and how busy the nurses are with people who were in much worse shape than me.
Nevertheless.
Towards the end of my stay at Mount Vernon, I couldn't wait to leave. The Fourth of July holiday bumped my day of release back a bit, but eventually I rode home with my stepmom in her Cadillac SUV. A very nice vehicle actually.
Home was no longer my single man apartment in Alexandria. My wife and sister and some neighborhood kids had moved my things out and into my wife's basement.
Home was now back in my parent's basement. It was weird at first, but comfortable enough and I got used to it. My days in recovery mostly consisted of sitting quietly and watching television. Taking medicine three times a day and learning how to walk properly again. My gait was more of a lumber, I would keep my feet about shoulder length apart, which would keep me upright.
Fortunately, they had cable. I had cut the cord as they say about a month before my stroke and this was a very welcome opportunity to watch all the shows I had left behind and check out a few movies here and there.
So, I got to get back into my guilty pleasure, "Maury" and the procedural grind of "Law and Order" and "Law and Order: Criminal Intent." These shows would chew up my days awake and I would go back to sleep at night.
I didn't dream, and each day I woke up featured a few seconds of dread and confusion waking up in a new place. After a few months that went away. I couldn't sleep on my back as I had a bit of swelling on the back of my head where the brain surgery took place. I did rediscover the joy of afternoon naps, as I healed up, which was lovely.
I was getting better, using my cane to get around, but something was a bit amiss.
Gonna miss you, P.
(Wow, my face was fat in that picture)
