Member-only story
PROMPT: RE-ENTRY
The World, Re-Arranged
Coming Back To A Changed World In A Damaged Body
I had to re-enter many lost worlds at once. I expected everything to return to normal once I was released from hospitals after three months. But I found something much different.
It was as if I was returning to the world of the living after a death of sorts. I did not die when my pupils were fixed and dilated in the ER signaling that brain stem functions such as respiration and circulation were starting to shut down.
An emergency craniotomy stopped the cerebral hemorrage that should have killed me and the child I was carrying.
I had left the world in an ambulance suddenly on Valentine’s Day, pregnant, paralyzed, and 35 years old.
I know I left our 2 year old son and Barney, our Golden Retriever, home when I was rushed to the hospital. I don’t recall anything else from that morning.
After 53 days in the acute care hospital, and six weeks at a rehabilitation facility learning how to walk and take care of myself, I imagined things would be just fine when I got home.
But I went home in a wheelchair. To a 2 story house. The same one I had left in a hurry three months ago.
