ICU 101

(May 1, 2013) 

Things I've learned in the ICU waiting room:

1.  There is absolutely no way to turn off the lights, even overnight.
2.  Chairs make excellent beds, floors excellent chairs, and walls excellent therapists.
3.  You might die.
4.  Waking from a coma is nothing like the movies.  It starts with an eye flicker or a leg twitch, and takes multiple days to happen completely.
5.  My entire life has been a phone call away from completely falling apart.  Everyone's is.
6.  You can have multiple chest tubes placed into one lung.
7.  What "clonus" is.
8.  People will assume that snacks/bottled water/magazines are public domain in places like these.
9.  Mom and Dad won't turn anyone down.  Even when it comes to a co-worker's delicious baked goods, they will share.
10.  I am strangely forgiving these days.  
11.  You might live.
12.  I am not above begging.
13.  You have a lot of friends.  A lot.
14.  Complete strangers can feel like family.
15.  My childhood dream of becoming a neurosurgeon hasn't faded.
16.  I don't like your absence from us.  I'm not sure I can live with it.
17.  My son can be quite easily convinced that there is a blue monkey living on this floor.
18.  I can still laugh.  
19.  You are a fighter.  Such. A. Fighter. 
20.  Heroes wear blue scrubs and go by names like "Elise" and "Dani". 
21.  Google is my best friend, and also my worst enemy.
22.  It is possible to lose nine pounds in seventeen days.  
23.  How to wait for something that might never come.
24.  You have to recover, because you have to recover, because you have to.