A Day in the Life: The Decision that Changed Everything

A couple days later I woke up again and I was tangled in more IV’s than I was before and I had tubes coming from the side of my ribs and a nasal cannula coming from my nose and I felt more out of it than I was before. I couldn’t move or feel my legs, I could barely move my feet, and I wasn't able to sit up. I was so confused on what was happening, then I heard someone talking to me and asking me if I knew what day it was and if I remembered what happened. I didn't know what exact day it was but I remembered all the pain I was going through. My nurse informed me of what happened and why I was in the State I was in. Turns out my spinal cord had a stroke because it wasn’t comfortable with having those rods inside of me, so the rods were removed.

It's been three months of recovery but I finally can grip something with my hands. I am still having trouble getting around though. Everytime I stand up searing pain spreads from my ankles to my chest. Zander helps me get around sometimes, but he doesn't come around as often anymore. Aunt jannet comes everyday checking up on me. My mom only can once but it was only to see how much my revery was going to cost her, then she left without saying a word to me or seeing how I was doing. I get a weird feeling feeling as I recite these things in my head.

I was so upset by what had happened, but the only thing I could think about was if my mom and sister was okay. As we arrived to the emergency room, I didn’t really feel any pain and thought I wasn’t hurt. Since the initial x-ray at the emergency room showed that there was nothing wrong with me, I assumed that I would still be able to participate in my normal school activities. However, within the first week of school, I had a debilitating pain in my back that would leave me feeling as if I was frozen. The agonizing pain prevented me from being able to take deep breaths, turn my neck, or move my arms, let alone carry a full backpack or participate in the marching

An MRI was conducted, and showed that I had dead brain cells, which was a direct correlation to Traumatic Brain Injury. At this point, I realized that my life would be changed forever; never thinking I would have ever been in a situation of this magnitude, but understand that everything in life happens for a reason. I was unable to walk without some type of assistance for nearly one and a half years, and had to go through extensive brain therapy because of the severity of my brain injury. From the time I was injured until present, I have had eighteen Epidural Steroid Injections in my spine, as well as other therapy. I have always said that out of every bad situation, something positive will come out of it. Since the injury, my wife and I have become much closer, as well as my

my leg was split into two pieces.when the doctor came in he said he needs to talk to. My mom som some.Of my family left when the doctor said it will take about 3 months to recover my mom started crying I felt so bad.

I looked at my hand when they were done and I had gotten dark blue. It had a little bit of blood on it but it was fine. The nurse wrapped my hand in this cast like thing. I couldn't go swimming, take a bath well I could only take a shower, use my hand, or go to the park and use my hand. My middle finger felt like a melted rubber tire for about four hours. During those four hours I was at my grandma’s house

At 6:00 am, on April 18th 2016, I skipped into the hospital with my mom and dad not bothered at the fact that I was about to have thirty-two screws and two rods shoved into my back. I sat in the waiting room dressed in my favorite NFL team, the New Orleans Saints, apparel, trying to make my worried parents laugh. When I finally heard my name get called, I followed the nurse into a room where she would prep me for surgery. She put compression tights, socks, and a heated hospital gown on me and got me situated in the bed. Then, the part I dreaded the most, the IV.. I was more worried about getting an IV than the actual surgery! After the anesthesiologist and a few other doctors met with me it was time to go. My preacher, parents, and grandparents gathered around me to say a quick prayer and then I was off. At that time my vision began to get fuzzy like a picture that was not focused. My last memory before the surgery was the nurses rolling my bed into

I was asleep on my stomach, with my phantom arm dangling off of the bed. I've slept like that as long as I can remember, and when I first felt it I thought that my hand had fallen asleep and causing the pins-and-needles sensation that I had often felt. When I tried to open and close my hand, I awoke, remembering in a sleepy haze that I didn't have a hand to open, yet the cold feeling remained. This time it stayed a while, and I could make out the distinct feeling of fingers on my skin. I tried to shake my hand, but couldn't. I pushed down with my left hand and shifted to roll over onto my back, yet the feeling remained, still as defined, and I wondered how long this invisible hand had held me. I shook my wife awake and explained, but she was convinced that it was simply a part of the process. She held me and talked to me in her cooing, comforting voice until, one by one, the fingers lifted, releasing me from the torture of the cold. Feeling it reminded me of the accident.

The party bus was late and it seemed like we were waiting for countless hours. In the meantime, people were just talking and hanging out, but you could feel anxiety of when the party bus was actually coming because the time it would be here kept on changing. At last, the party bus finally came and was ready to go. Once the people came outside to get on the bus, it was a shoving match to see who would get on the bus because the riders have become impatient. It was like the scene you see at stores Black Friday morning, the only difference was that the bus you got to get signed in. There was one point where the Residence Advisor for the building we were in yelled at us and told us to get the party bus away from the front of her building. So after the bus moved and everyone was able to get on, there was a celebration onboard. The ride over the was actually pretty smooth, most people were dancing, other people were just talking with one another. It was good time but then it was though an eeriness came on the bus like a draft. Someone had said that the party we were going to got shut down, mind you we were already on the road for about two hours. We didn’t believe it so we kept going on our way to the venue. Once we got near it, there was no way to get in, the police had the whole road blocked

The nurse warned me I would be extremely sore the next couple of days. It was a bummer due to the fact I had to sit out a couple of tennis games during my final season. Once I got home I decided to take a bath, and think about what happened. I remember sitting in the tub thinking about life. I don’t want to sound dramatic, but I thought about some life decisions. I thought about the people who were in my life. I also thought about the close relationships I had with people. Did I really want to keep my lifestyle the way it was? Or did I want to continue to be the same person? After the accident I realized I could have always change whatever I wanted. Nothing and no one was ever holding me back. I like to believe the accident was a wakeup call. Probably the biggest one I have had in my

The injury had taken away some of the activities I had enjoyed doing the most, which gradually effected my confidence, especially at school. You see, in elementary school I constantly got bullied and during my childhood I never stood up for myself and became a very timid, unconfident girl. I would come home crying occasionally and my mom would always find out the reason behind those tears. I wouldn't articulate my emotions and what I was going through with my teachers because I had fear towards the bullies and as a result, my mom would be the one who spoke up for me. Eventually, I found an escape in music, I specifically grew a passion for singing at an early age. My mother noticed my love and signed me up for vocal lessons which eventually led me to acting,

The pain was excruciating. I remember feeling like my lungs were burning with every breath. After I heard the sirens, I blacked out. After the accident, I was in therapy for months. My parents tried to get me to feel something, anything, but I couldn’t, I’d never walk again. I gave up for a while, but eventually I agreed to go to therapy. There, I learned to heal by embracing the beauty in the world, and I learned I wasn’t alone. There were tons of other kids at the hospital with me who had experienced some sort of injury that made them different, but we all managed to get through it together. I went out in the woods for 30 minutes every day, and it helped me restore me to my former self, at least

Occasionally, my boyfriend, six close friends (including, one designated sober driver) and I go downtown to go to bars, and clubs to drink, party, and dance to badly mixed music. We went downtown for my boyfriend’s birthday on November 24th, all set to drink, to have fun, tell stories, and to party the night away. It had been some time, since our last get together and wanted to make memories and drink the night away. We arrived at Humpin’ Hannah’s in Boise, got a table, started drinking and playing pool.

It was a bone chilling January night; my mom received a call at about 11:15 PM, a call that changed my life forever. My Aunt June was on the other line. She was crying so hard my mother could barely understand her. Through the sobbing my mom finally understood that Brian, my cousin, had been in a horrible accident and she didn’t know how bad it was. My mother jumped out of the bed after she hung up the phone. She screamed up the stairs at my sister and me; it was a nerve shrilling scream. I could hear fear in her voice. My mom was always yelling at us growing up if we forgot to do something. She would even get us out of bed to finish something that wasn’t done completely. This particular

There are many pivotal points in a person's life which mark important milestones. The marking of one of these milestones for me all started when I was four years of age. My dream was to become tall enough to reach the twizzlers that were kept from me atop the fridge. This is an important memory I have from when I was young because it taught me how important it is to have dreams.