Surviving an Aneurysm:

With a Beginner's Unborn Mind

Angela, my wife, or better known as, The One Who Must be Obeyed, mentioned it might be a good idea to present my aneurysm case, in some detail, so others may learn from it.

i asked why? To me, the three operations and six months living with just half a skull; the other half just brain covered by skin/hair, seemed a rather innocuous experience.

Found the 1/2 skull; 1/2 brain covered by skin humorous, because of the fear, the consternation it caused: doctors, receptionists, and others. Parents hired me to scare their kids into behaving – kidding.

Learned to wear hats. Lots of different kind of hats. Wore one to see the neurosurgeon. A hat that covered/breathed well but reminded me of the type worn by particularly stodgy people and innocently pointed that out to him.

He answered rather crossly, “That’s the kind of hat i wear.”

Ah well, you can’t win them all.

During the first operation, nurses scared the bejeebers out of my wife with stories of husbands not knowing wives or even not knowing who they were. Angela was prepared for the worst by well meaning individuals, by do no harm bullturd people.

Not a good idea to prepare people by making them fear more.

To prove my point, when i finally came out of the pentathol state, nurses asked, “How do you feel? Do you know where you are?

i answered: “Just getting off the plane in Muscat. The weather’s beautifully hot. i see our ride. . .”

i heard a very audible gasp. So much for remaining objective. i heard the same gasp a second time when the nurses saw i had only half a skull, coming out of the second 51/2 hour surgery.

“i’m just kidding!” i blurted laughingly. That’s when i discovered nurses don’t gots a sense of humour.

Took me a while to convince them i knew, where i wuz, who i wuz, how old i wuz, and twenty (20) questions more. The reason? Shucks, their professional pride had been bruised.

i was to discover much more, much, much more about the seedier side of the dual mind existence of supposed objective, unbiased, expert, professional side of hospital staff.

Add this here, at end of this episode, it’s a miracle, that people with any sort of brain injury, survive thru the “do no harm bullcrap” prescribed by the institutional practices of hospitals.

– Next Episode Coming to a Substack Near You! –

PS: Apologies, no pictures this time.