Pexels

There’s a Big Difference Between Being Alive and Simply Breathing

I want to live!

It may be a cliche, but having a brush with death certainly can realign your priorities. Most of us breathe all day long so we are technically alive. After I survived a near death medical emergency, my life became all about really living.

I arrived in the emergency room paralyzed on the left side of my body with fixed and dilated pupils. My brain stem functions such as heart rate, respiration and consciousness were starting to shut down. I happened to be six months pregnant, also. I was 35 years old. I’d had a cerebral hemorrhage.

An emergency craniotomy saved my life and that of my unborn baby. We spent the next 53 days in bed in the hospital, pregnant and paralyzed. I had a two year old son at home with his father.

After giving birth while I was still hemiplegic, I spent six weeks in a rehab hospital learning how to walk and take care of myself. I went home in a wheelchair, but could walk a little using a cane and a brace on my leg.

Very slowly and over many years, I regained function. I still limp, carry a cane and can barely use my left arm, but I love life.

I wanted to sign up for every adventure possible. It was easier to sit on the couch, but I felt that wasn’t what I lived…