Since I awoke from my three month coma in August of 2004, I have been asked many times about what I remembered and experienced. After looking over my notes and speaking with my wife and some of
medical professionals involved, I decided that it might be a good idea to write a short overview of these experiences. They were both wonderful and frightening, but lessons I learned and "gift" I was given are worth more than anything I could ever experience again.When I awoke, I was told about my wreck and my coma. That wasn't all that exciting. But, what really kicked me in gear was when my wife and surgeons carefully informed me about my deaths and myriad other events. It was all amazingly like a dream! I couldn't believe it! How could I have died if I feel more alive now than ever before? I remembered everything that happened during noted coma. But, I never knew I was in a coma because I actually "lived my life" through what I now know were "trips" outside of my comatose state.
The medical professionals were amazed because I not only described activities that occurred to me physically, but I described nurses and rooms I was in during my comatose state. I then carried on about where I went, what I did, and what I saw. Mystified and concerned, my wife and medical staff stepped outside to discuss my mental and physical state. My wife then re-entered and told me that I was never supposed to walk again. I was never to function mentally as I had. I was not to live but five more years on feeding tubes and a respirator in a nursing home. Ouch! I was a power lifter and a mathematician, writer, and software engineer! It just knocked me for a loop! But, this was not acceptable.
Now, I have to take a tangent to discuss what happened in my "death-zone", comatose excursions. It was an amazing adventure! I visited homes, people, and places of business that had come into existence during my coma and afterward. For example, I described one house to my wife and how to get to property. I drew map and house's layout. We took a day and drove there to find that exact house I "visited" was being built were I saw it in my death-zone travels. Another example was a "visit" with my brother, who is alive and well, as we ate at a restaurant, made of coral, by a body of water. Amazingly, in physical realm, he came to visit and I took a picture of him when we went out to dinner. Upon review of photo, I noticed that we were next to a lake with a coral statue standing behind him, outside of restaurant. I've always had a bit of psi ability and have been practicing and studying it for years, but this was beyond me! These events, in addition to many others, caused me to consider that my travels were more than just mental twists and dreams.
However, back to bad news, I had to deal with all of this without realizations that slowly came back to me from my trips. I was blank and empty and going to die. What did I have to lose? I demanded removal of tubes and other paraphernalia as I didn't want to drag this on for too long for my wife. Let's just do it. I then, went to sleep.
Three days later I woke up in a rehab center. My blood pressure was normal and, having had my tubes removed, I was starving and had to go to bathroom. It wasn't an easy task to "walk" to bathroom, but I did. I then decided to take a further trip to cafeteria. Of course, I didn't make it, but I was so close I could smell hospital food. One of assistants at center caught me, put me in a wheelchair, and rolled me back to room. Stubbornly, I crawled into bed myself. But, I did it!
After my single attempt to make it on my own, everything else came into place like a puzzle. One piece fit nicely into another. How I made it, no one knows. I was released from rehab center in three weeks and, two months later, I am doing everything I did before accident --- only better. I'm walking, driving, and traveling with my wife! I'm doing my writing, math, and software engineering again! I am better in sense that I am a better person than I ever was before. Better in sense that I have a greater patience and an understanding that I never had before. Smarter in sense that my mind is more open and I no longer have fears and baggage that I had before accident. Richer in sense that I have my life back.
But, how did I get here? I should be dead --- or so I'm told often as my doctors sign off on me. I know now that I was given "a gift". The gift is different for everyone. Some don't understand it and become bitter while others see it and want more of it. Smashing my head into ground and being stuck on a 750 pound motorcycle during three flips is hard way to receive a gift. But, it is more of an education and an "essence" than anything physical. It is me. It is you. It just ... is!
The gift is very simple and small, but very powerful. It is simply --- seeing and feeling. I lost that somewhere along way. It is knowing what is there and seeing what is here. Feeling everything. Riding in dream instead of chasing it. The memories, emotions, and feelings that taunted my life and vision are gone. I feel and see like never before. My wife calls my new gift an innocence. I call it a knowledge of all and wonder of a child.
