BGB Master Completed

Brain Go BOOM!
Author/Survivor: John Cooper
Chapter 16: Time to Pack up and go Corky
I
was finally cleared for discharge to a rehabilitation hospital. I had a choice of a few different
hospitals, but my family collectively chose Peat Rehab due to its high ratings and proximity
to home. Peat is rated as one of the top ten rehab facilities in the country. How lucky was I? I
had the best neurosurgical team, along with one of the best rehab facilities. That scenario helped
this rooting-for-the-underdog-Philly-kid.
As they were packing my personal belongings, my charming I-love-you-Becca-clean-upin-aisle-4
nurse came in and put a big piece of medical tape with the name “Corky” on my
helmet. Nurse Becca and I laughed our asses off as she endearingly applied the nameplate to my
helmet. Sorry Corky, but in these situations everyone tries to latch onto some form of laughter,
even if it is at other people’s expense. Obviously, we would have never acted or spoken that way
in public, nor was there any malicious intent.
I saved the “Corky” tape in a journal which Laura had been keeping by my bedside. She
wrote in it daily. Everything related to my hospital stay was in this notebook for me to read:
doctors who came to see me and their prognoses, nurse names, my setbacks, my complications
while I was in the coma, the vasospasms, any progress I made and, most importantly, my healthy
awakening from the coma. Visitors even wrote messages for me while I was in my coma,
sleeping or having off days, like racing Apollo Ono.
It was bittersweet leaving Hospital J and going to the land of the unknown. It was a
frigid, dark, early evening. I must have gotten the rejects from the ambulance company to take
me to my new, temporary home. There was a very large, very overweight, white male with a
pedophile-like mustache. His accomplice was young African-American girl who looked like she
could’ve been a backup singer for the ‘90’s R&B girl group, Salt-N-Peppa. As she was trying to
navigate my gurney into the back of the ambulance, I could tell she didn’t want to mess up her
nails. Fortunately, I had asked for my nominal pain medication, Tylenol with Codeine, before
the ride and I’m glad I did.
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