Blind, Deaf and Tetraplegic

Hanna takes me to the Hospital

After what I believe were 15 minutes, I started to feel like I was being moved. When I asked what was going on, Hanna, unable to communicate, just closed my eyes with her fingers, indicating me to relax. I slept. I stayed asleep until I felt someone poking my forehead. But this touch was rubberier. Maybe a medical glove.

—Hi — I said.

The rubbery object stopped poking me. I was carried to various places and went back to sleep. I only knew what had happened after about 2 hours, when Hanna gently caressed my cheek, waking me up.

—Touch my forehead for yes and my chin for no, okay?

She gently touched my forehead.

—Am I speaking clearly? — Without hearing my own speech, it was hard to know. I was relieved by the touch on my forehead.

—Okay. If you don't understand something, tap my left ear. Were we in the hospital? — She touched my forehead.

—Are we home now? — She touched my chin. — So, are we still at the hospital? — Forehead. — Waiting for the exams to come out? — Forehead.

—Got it. What time is it? — She touched my forehead one, two, three, for, five, six, seven, eight, nine times. — Nine o'clock? — I felt the tenth touch in my forehead. — Ok. I'm hungry, can you take me some food?

I felt one more touch in my forehead and, after it, her smooth lips on mine. I didn't feel anything for the next few minutes. They were some of the worst minutes of my life as I couldn't go back to sleep and I was alone, without my love, and on top of all that, hungry.

It wasn't just the boredom that disturbed me. The main problem was, actually, the anxiety. My thoughts started to flow very quickly, as if the faucet of my brain was completely opened. Unreal ideas were soaking my mind:

"Will Hanna come back? What if she abandons me? Am I staying here forever? No, she loves me. She will come back! What if someone tries to kidnap me? My body wouldn't be able to defend itself! Anyone could do anything with me! I'm resistless... Maybe I have already been kidnapped and couldn't even notice..."

I tried to bring good memories to my mind, trying to distract myself. My wedding, a small party, with only 20 guests. As we are not religious, there wasn't a priest or anything like it. Hanna's brother did the ceremony. He was succinct:

— Do you, Hanna Junot, take Yonos Burguer as your husband?

— Yes! — She answered, excited, this time out loud, not just touching my forehead.

— And do you, Yonos Burguer, take Hanna Junot as your wife?

— Yes!

— So, you may kiss each other.

The kiss was breathtaking. Hanna is a good kisser. And that night was magic...

My thought was interrupted by the smell of some fried food mixed with Hanna's perfume — as you can see, my nose is good, and got even better after this episode. Soon I felt her fingers caressing my scalp and a "coxinha" being gently pushed into my mouth. I took a bite. At least I could still taste it.

After satiating myself, I developed a simple, but slow, system wherewith Hanna would be able to communicate with me. She would twitch my right ear as many times as the letter she wanted in the alphabet. One to "A", two to "B", three to "C", and so on. She would touch my nose one time to indicated she had finished the letter, two times to indicate she had finished the word and three times to indicate she had finished the sentence or the idea.

As a test, she twitched my ear 25 times, then touched the tip of my nose — it was an Y. Then 15 twitches and a touch in my nose — an O. 14 twitches and a touch — a N. 15 again —another O. And 19 twitches with three touches in my nose. It was my name: Yonos.

— Yonos? — I asked, wanting confirmation. I felt Hanna's finger in my forehead, indicating that I was correct.

She lied next to me on the stretcher and hugged me. We stayed like that until the medical exams arrived. 5, 24, 1, 13, 19 twitches in my ear: Exams. Later, at home, she told me, using the minimal amount of letters that she could, that the exams didn't found anything:

— Inconclusive.

—Are my senses gonna come back? — A little hope inflated and filled my chest.

— No know.