For those of you who’ve been following along . . . “The I.C.U.” is part three of my near-death rock-climbing story. This is my favorite of all of the sections and shows most clearly what it is like to be a very very sick patient in the ICU.
Ten years ago today (January 25, 2003), I fell 80 feet (24 meters) while rock climbing at T-Wall, a popular climbing site in Tennessee. The doctors said I might not live; when I did, they said I’d never be the same again. Today, not only am I “normal,” most people don’t even know this incident ever happened. This is part three of my story. (To read parts one and two, click here and here.)
THE I.C.U.
4 a.m.
A scream. More of a growl, actually. Arrrr! Arrrr! Arrrrrrrr! The pirate a few rooms down was hallucinating again.
Footstepsechoed off the laminate floor.
Then, silence.
I could hear machines humming. My machines. Whirrrr. Whirrrr. Their green lights glowed in the dark. I pretended they were aliens.
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Filed under: background, current events, life, life at home, personal, perspective Tagged: ARDS, chattanooga, Erlanger Hospital, ICU, near-death experience, pulmonary embulus, Rock climbing, scapula, Tennessee, tracheostomy
