My COMA

 My brother asked to write what it was like going into a COMA. I told him that I really don't remember much, but people had to deal with my seizure and slipping into the coma, etc. Twice, I woke up in the ambulance on the way to the hospital NOT knowing what was happening.

The COMA - 1997

---They talk about it being on the fence between life and death.  I was brought to the hospital having fallen at my hotel. The doctor said I was suffering from polydipsia. That’s the condition of having drank too much. The doctor assumed that as I was from the area of the city known for drinking too much, He thought I was probably suffering from polydipsia from too much alcohol.

---After treating me awhile he could NOT understand why I wasn’t responding to the treatment. Eventually, he called my case manager. She told him that during my visits, I go out for water quite frequently. He thought awhile and realized that I had polydipsia for sure, but realized that it was NOT ALCOHOL. It was plain-old water. I was basically waterlogged and had peed out a good amount of my enzymes. I was aware of drinking a lot of water and peeing a lot, but wasn’t aware that i was depleting my enzymes. The amount of water was about 8 two-liter plastic bottles per day - the kind Diet Coke comes in...if you’re wondering.

---The following day after being brought to the hospital, they took me down for x-rays. I basically remember going downstairs. I had a seizure while being x-rayed and lapsed into the coma. For the next five days I was in a coma, never coming out of it.

---On the fifth day, in the morning, I was aware of someone sticking a needle between my fingers. I was in that state between sleeping and wakefulness. I opened and closed my eyes a few times, thinking that I was in my hotel room, but someone had put a screen of some sort near my bed.

---I remember thinking that Cliff (my hotel manager) will like what I’ve done with the room, but he’ll never understand all these people sticking needles in me. Or, even why they are there. It took awhile, but I finally realized I was not at the hotel, but still in the hospital. The hospital staff began to talk with me and I finally caught on to what happened.

---That is the long and the short of the actual comatose experience. I have had experiences of having a seizure and going unconscious, before. They were all very much the same experience, but they didn’t last long enough to be categorized as a coma. I don’t know the official amount of days that is required. I awakened in the ambulance not aware of what happened. All I was aware of at those times really was waking up in the ambulance. Both times I couldn’t supply many of the details. Once in Los Angeles in 1990 in front of the urinal in the bathroom and once in 2005 at Laguna Honda Hospital aspirating on watermelon pieces that were served at lunch. Both times I went to the ICU at a local hospital.

DURING THE TIME SPENT IN THE COMA, I AM AWARE THAT I DID RE-CONNECT WITH MYSELF, WHICH WAS VERY NECESSARY and VERY BENEFICIAL.