copy/paste (note: nikola asked about the nurses. 'quelle surprise' you might exclaim)
on the subject of the nurses.... the cutest one is actually english!
i think it helped no end that i had two beautiful girls fawning over me from the time i got there. looks a bit less lecherous that way. apparently in an unconscious state whilst in ITU/ICU at one point i began talking at length about darwin's voyage on the hms beagle, withhin earshot of another cute darwin-obsessive nurse. she took an especial shine to me thereafter. sponge baths may have been involved, who knows!
here's the rough story anyway:
i remember the day i went in in the ambulance, i'd been shaking convulsively, throwing up, migraine etc. i remember the ambulance ride and then almost nothing thereafter. the next month and a half is comprised of metaphorical dreams. i'll pick out a choice selection for your reading pleasure.
the darwin-nurse in question i think is called susanna. in dreamland she was part of a group of particularly gifted students who had been assembled (myself included - modest even in semi-consciousness, you see) in a large sports hall. we were all given flesh wounds and stitches and one piece of fairly basic artillery resembling a sort of improvised blowpipe. the winner was due to inherit a rather substantial sum of money from the doctor who had, as it transpired, created us all. the rest of us were due tracheotomies - hence the collapsed lung! there are literally dozens of such dreams correlating to reality.
the goriest is probably the one in which someone stabbed me in the neck with a screwdriver which corresponded with me ripping out a big dialysis tube attached to my jugular vein, to the horror of the attending nurse(s) (mercifully i don't think the parents were around for that one - blood everywhere, nearly dead twice!).
i had some fun ones too. i dreamt an entire play about fish, though i can't claim that one bears any relation to reality, unless all the sea's a stage too.
on the subject of reality, the distinction between it and its counterpart has been my only real trauma. i was CONVINCED for the first week that i was half with it (that is, approximately 2 weeks ago) that the hospital was purgatory. everyone visting was visiting my grave, or grieving for me, or some other such.. warped explanation. i suppose if you've been basically comatose for a couple months it makes more sense! the brain's a funny thing, it was forever playing tricks on me to convince me it really wasn't real.... colours changing, things relocating by their own accord... things in the ward distorting and changing day by day - all effects of delirium and illness no doubt but pretty damn trippy nonetheless. every now and then something still throws me but for the most part it's a lot easier to reassure myself everything's actually.. er... real. i suppose i felt an awful lot like neo not long after he takes the pill, to foist an analogy on it.
it's really nice being able to read again, i've chewed through 6 books in the last 4 days. my typing isn't bad either, i just have to keep working on getting some muscle mass back and hope the old ticker improves a bit. no point in being necrophobic though is there? sometimes, as wicked once said, you just gotta 'suck it up, cupcake'.
the teddy bear with the dice sits atop my locker; the cheese is long gone; the whiskey and the stein, however, won't be seeing the light of day for a few months yet... a source of much sadness to a scotsman as we all know. doctor's orders.
(EDIT: various gifts from my fellow THOTA'ers)
the sheer volume of cards and warm messages and prayers from you guys nearly outweighs those of my relatives! i can't thank you all enough for what i have to say was a totally unexpected series of incredibly kind gestures. i'll hopefully be out properly in about a weeks time to keep the rehab going at home, i'll keep you guys updated. looking forward to chipping in with the traditional apoc/mogul double after i reassure myself i can still remember how to play them!
if i've forgotten any gifts sent or things said it's not through callousness, there are simply some awfully large gaps in my memory. the other day when they let me out for a few hours i barely recognised anything we drove past until we were nearly home

thanks again to you all, i'm sure i've forgotten a funny story or two so i'll no doubt be amending it as and when they flash back to me.
David
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