A Realization

There I was sound asleep dreaming, and not knowing I was in a small coma. As I look back on what happened I realize just how lucky I am to be alive. A boy of eight has a feeling of being indestructible. I on the other hand had the benefit to learn to appreciate life at a young age.

The summer of 1997 was just like any other to me. I hung out with my good friends that I still talk too to this day. We would round up some change from the couch cushions and choose to go to the movies or the public pool. All in all just an average fun summer. One day I woke up in the morning and found myself with a horrible headache. I went into my mother's room and woke her out of bed. I told my mother about my headache and she brushed it off as a small cold. My mother did not realize at the time that most children rarely get headaches at such a young age. When my mother found out how much pain I was in, she took me to bed and made me lay down like any good mother would. Once I was down on the bed she grabbed the thermometer and stuck it in my mouth. I remember it tasting like tinfoil and hurting my teeth. When she saw that I was running a high temperature she decided I must have a fever from the common cold. I stead in bed for the rest of that day and slept. I laid in bed the next morning extremely tried and stiff. I felt as if I could not move my neck and the light in the room hurt my eyes. I called my mother and asked for her to close my curtains. My kind hearted mother did as I requested and assumed I just wanted to rest more. My mother thought I would bounce back and gave me one more day to sleep, hoping that in the morning I would be fine. The next day she found that I was only worse and I could see it in her eyes that something was wrong. She took me straight to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital I don't remember waiting for the doctor. The first that I remember was finding out that the doctor had to do a test to see what was wrong with me. When I was sitting in his office I remember thinking it was going to be a written test, but to find out that the test I had to take was a spinal tap. I was told that when taking a spinal tap their can be a slight chance of becoming paralyzed. As soon as I herd the word "paralyzed" I could picture all the things I would not be able to do, their would be no more swimming with my friends at the pool or ride my bike to the cherry tree down the block, this of course made me nervous. I remember walking into the doctors office and lying down on the table. Then the nurse walked up to me and told me to drink some red liquid she had in a little cup. When I asked her what the liquid was she replied, "Something to make you not remember this". After that all I remember is waking up in a hospital bed with IV's in my arm.

I found out later that the results of the spinal tap were that I had viral meningitis. Meningitis is the inflammation of the protective membranes covering the central nervous system. That day at the hospital was the only day I was awake. That night at the hospital my body shutdown to try and prevent the inflammation in my brain. I was sound asleep in a small coma. I found out later that the doctor told my mother and father that their was a high chance that I would not wake up at all, and if I did I would most likely have brain damage. My parents and family stayed by my side while I was in the hospital bed asleep. The nurses would frequently check on me and look at my motionless body. Finally on the third day I woke