Unbelievable

February 17, 2018 Comfort Zone Opinion

What are the four stages of acceptance again? I forgot, except denial which is the first I do whenever something bad happens to me.

Well last August 30, that was still my sentiment despite overwhelming proof. You see I suffered a stroke on that day but the bullheaded me just wouldn’t want to admit it. So the first sane sentence which came out of me was to ask my doctor, Dr. Socorro Sarfati, if the stroke was a large one.

You see I wasn’t a total dolt, I still knew what a stroke was and what causes it. A stroke is caused when a vein in the brain suddenly bursts depriving millions of neurons of oxygen which would eventually cause their death. The death of a neuron is truly a sad event because with the loss of this one cell comes the demise of everything it has learned throughout its life.

So if the cell was one in the chain to walk then the entire ability to walk suffers, and so on. Dr. Sarfati became solemn as she explained: “No it wasn’t a big, but it occurred in a part of the brain that is crucial that it was touch and go for while.” This conversation was held about a week after the stroke.

Then I told her my near death experience and she could only nod with hidden knowledge. She confirms that I nearly died on the table at the emergency room. This is because the vein that burst, although a small one, was located at the brain stem, or the medulla oblongata. This is part of the brain which controls all autonomic systems of the body. Systems like breathing, digestive, heart rate and blood pressure are all controlled by the brain stem and a malfunction here could mean the end.

As far as Dr. Sarfati was concerned: it was a miracle that I was talking to her while sitting calmly in my hospital bed.

“God has a reason for calling you back!” was how Dr. Sarfati summed up her thoughts of that fateful morning.

Even my learned doctor could not explain my living through a stroke that has claimed countless lives even in this age of medical miracles and wonders.