A Matter Of Time

Chapter Three - More surgery

Just after ten days since I was initially rushed into hospital, I had another type of brain surgery. An angiogram is an X-ray like procedure that can be both diagnostic and therapeutic. It is considered the gold standard for evaluating blockages in the arterial system. An angiogram detects blockages using X-rays taken during the injection of a contrast agent (iodine dye). so that they can see what's going on when they give you a scan.
My parents were obviously quite worried and concerned about me having to have yet another surgery and how it might affect me. They didn't want it to cause any kind of setback.
I was put under anaesthetic and my parents were told that I would probably be quite tired when I came out. Well, apparently I was wide awake!

My brain had a lot of healing to do in addition to physical muscle wastage I'd had from being in a coma. Because of this, I wasn't able to eat properly and had a feeding tube that went through my nose. I absolutely hated it. It's something I remember extremely clearly and I attempted to pull it out on numerable occasions. In hindsight, this was not a good idea as I didn't realise that I would just have to have it put back in again, which was not a pleasant experience.
Mum was on the night shift with me and I was trying to pull my tube out again. On one hand, everyone was glad to see me displaying my physical strength, but they all knew how much I hated having it sorted out again.
Later that night and into the early morning, my dad was brushing my teeth for me and apparently I just took the toothbrush from him and started doing it myself. Everyone was over the moon and dad made sure to take a photo.
I spoke out later that day. I've been told about this next event on a few occasions.
Mum was telling me off again for pulling my tube out and asked me if I was listening to her. Apparently, whilst still going through speech therapy and strengthening my vocal cords, I answered
"I'm listening!" With full teenage attitude.

I spent most of my time in a hospital bed, with a lot of people rushing around me. One of the nurses told me that she liked my top and I said "thank you" which I've been told made her day. All the days rolled into one whilst I was in hospital. During my recovery I suffered from significant fatigue and so even sleep wasn't something that I could use to separate the days.