Hospital I.

Hospital / Wellcome Images

After my stroke had stabilized, I was transferred to a rehab hospital, to mend. In the neuro ward there were all kinds of patients, evidence of calamities: car accidents, strokes, aneurysms, etc.

My first roommate there was a teenage girl who had tried to shoot herself dead, but missed. She had had brain surgery and had to wear a helmet to protect her skull afterward. While I was there, she was discharged to a nursing home, stuck in a wheelchair for life. There was a pause...