In rehab I was kept very busy, I had physical therapy, speech, occupational therapy and met with a psychologist twice a day. I stayed in a private room but was surrounded many others who were gong through the same thing that I was. I left for college in Oklahoma at the same time my parents moved to Florida so I had no friends in Miami. This was hard for me to accept because I have always been known as “little miss social butterfly”. For this reason my friends kept the letters and cards coming and my family taped them to the walls of the gloomy hospital room.
Shortly after my arrival to rehab I was given an IQ test. The test showed that this poor little brunette was not yet awake that she was still living in a dream world (even though I scored 106 which is considered normal). One thing that I have learned through this mess is that it takes a long time for us coma victims to wake up so we require a great deal of patience.
I couldn’t understand why everyone was making such a fuss over me because I thought I was just fine. This was all just a bad dream and I would wake up one morning and be back in Oklahoma running, driving, dating and going to college. I continued to ignore the reality of my severe pelvic, wrist and rib pain thinking that if I rejected the pain this nightmare would remain a dream. Everyone agreed that I had many mental problems. Sara would test my memory by reciting three numbers to me, and asking me to repeat them back to her in the same order. I laughed and asked her if she thought I was stupid because this was way too easy. As it turns out I got more wrong than right. I now understand that even though I injured my brainstem my cerebrum and cerebellum were also effected due to the swelling in my brain. The cerebellum and cerebrum got better very slowly.
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