Recovery

This was not going to be easy, but I was determined to be healed. Walking up stairs was probably the hardest, and most challenging. By the time I reached the top stair I was exhausted. I now realized I had some serious surgery. The hospital sent to my home a physical therapist 3 times a week, and a visiting nurse daily. I met with my surgeon every two weeks at his office in the hospital. Once I started gaining my strength, going up stairs became easier, and I was able to take walks outside with my therapist. My wife would walk with me bringing our dog Kasha who couldn’t understand why we weren’t going on our five plus mile hikes. The healing process seemed to go on forever but even though I lacked the patience at times, I was thankful God decided to keep me here. I was looking forward to going back to teach with my colleagues at the prison. I survived this. I had a zipper incision in the middle of my chest, and my chest plate was held together with American steel cable. World class technology kept me alive. My surgeon, Dr. Omar Habib, informed me that seeing the size of my biceps and chest, he made sure to use heavy duty medical cable to close my chest plate. I thanked him for that.

I began thinking about an experience I had working in one of the factories as a teenager. I was (supposedly) accidentally gassed to unconsciousness. As I got older and was working at the Detroit Medical Center, I received a call from a doctor who wanted me to go up to the power house on the roof of the Hudson building, and let him know of anything being on the ledge of the sixth floor. That ledge was only visible from the power house on the roof. The Medical Facility Maintenance personnel supervisors were the only ones who would have access to that power house. I made my way to the power house. Upon opening the doors of the power house and looking out at the ledge, I could see what looked like an old beat up tennis shoe. I called the doctor back and let him know what was on the ledge. I was curious on why he was asking about this? He was an accomplished surgeon and had begun tracking his patients’ near death experiences known as NDEs. He gave me the exact description of the tennis shoe on the ledge given to him from one of his patients who had recently been resuscitated. The patient claimed to have an NDE. Seeing the shoe was the proof. It was not visible from any area in the hospital they would have access to. I was intrigued by the phenomena and spoke with him in depth about his research.

The NDEs’ the patients talked talked about made me think about what I had experienced in the factory after being gassed. However, I was surprised I did not experience an NDE while being operated on this time. My heart was stopped and I was hooked up to a heart blood pump while the grafts were completed. The operation took 12 hours. I had no recollection of this surgery. I awoke on a ventilator a day later, with my hands restrained, and the nurses removing me from the ventilator. I do remember questioning them about my hands being restrained, and their knowing smiles. “You’re back on earth,” they chided after undoing my restraints and handing me an Italian ice to eat. I felt at peace, a real peace, I hadn’t experienced in sometime. I was now well aware of my mortality but was not fearful because of it. I had an understanding instead. If my Creator wanted me, that would have been prime time for Him to take me, and that obviously didn’t occur. Again, I felt relaxed and at peace. I knew that I had been shown every bit of kindness by the medical staff, my family, friends, and colleagues who wished me a speedy recovery. Most importantly, my relationship with God grew even stronger. My recovery would be imminent. I felt assured in His grace. That was my peace. I will continue to work on being the best version of myself I can be.

TO BE CONTINUED… If I was still teaching, this is Black History month and I would be showing the poetry of Maya Angelou to my students via her readings on you tube: https://youtu.be/NzQtGCw49uc Copy the link and enjoy.