I Almost Died- How I Ended the Decade
Where do I even start? I honestly did not expect to end 2019 like this.
It all started with a simple charley horse, a sample leg cramp. A cramp that I have been ignoring for a few months because I “workout” once at the dorm gym. I often get Charley horses and honestly I didn’t have the best diet in college. Sure, I would buy fresh veggies every week, but those veggies would be used for all my high carb infused recipes.
Bell peppers would be used for my pasta and fried rice stir-fried. Sure I would make a salad once with half of that spinach bag, but the other half would be used for my morning omelets and grilled cheese sandwiches.
I also never made friends in Orlando. So, after class, I was always in my room studying or just watching endless Nollywood and Kdramas in my room. If not Nollywood or Korean dramas, it’s an endless marathon of Netflix.
When the December holiday break came, I was excited to leave my dorm and go home to basically stay at home again. One morning, I woke up with a sharp pain on my right calf.
“A charley horse again” I sigh
At that moment, it felt like a charley horse. But usually, they leave after a minute or two, but the whole day went by and the pain never went away. Days went by and my mom took me to an urgent care for an x-ray. While in urgent care, the doctor advised me since my leg wasn’t hot and hard, there was no need for an x-ray. This was my mistake. I should have stuck with my original plan and asked for what I came for. Instead, I left with a prescription for 600mg ibuprofen.
On December 28th, 2019 at around 3 pm, two days after the visit, I was rushed to the hospital by ambulance after calling my mom on her way to work. I just could not breathe. After an hour of tests, I was told I Bilateral P.E and DVT. I had blood clots on my lungs, legs, and arms due to the birth control pills I was taken for my abnormal menstruation. I remember a nurse telling me was I was to have a thrombectomy. But everything was happening so fast that I didn’t know what to think.
“But what if I have to use the bathroom” I sheepishly asked
“You’ll have a tube installed for that”
Before I could say anything,I had a gas mask in my face and just closed my eyes.
I woke up thinking it was the next day. Well, my mind was awake, I could not open my eyes. I heard the doctors and my sister. I heard a repeating beeping noise and I could not do anything about it. Time passed, my toes itching, and that’s when I heard
“Vallesia, open your eyes if you can hear me”
I heard him, but I just could not open them. Instead, I tried shaking the bed, but I don’t think they noticed. I was on paralyzed drugs and I honestly don’t think I was shaking in real life. Some time goes by again and that’s when I could finally open my eyes.
When I woke up, I felt something was in my mouth. I tried to yank it out and that’s when I was told if I pull the tube out, I’m dead. So they restrained my arms.
Later in the afternoon, after my sister called everyone, including my mom that went home to rest, I had the tube removed. My friend was in the room when I had it removed. It was just so long. That tube was more than 12 inches. It was just long. I cannot describe it any other way.
I spent 4 days in ICU and 2 days in a lower level room. After numerous blood tests, physical and speech therapy, and a prescription for blood thinners later, I was finally released from the hospital on January 2nd, 2020.
I have not accepted that I might be on blood thinners for the rest of my life. It’s just not common. The average 20-year-old does not have a near-fatal experience like this. I was told by my mother after I was passed out from the gas, she was told that I had a zero percent chance of surviving.
The next few days after discharging were not the greatest. I could not walk anywhere and needed an oxygen tube for every little movement. I ended up taking the prescriptions wrong for a whole week, had a panic attack, and called 911 on January 9th. Thankfully, I was sent home after an evaluation.
What did I learn?
For a few hours on that Monday, before I open my eyes, I could hear the doctors and my sister. I just could not move because of the paralyzing drug I was on. I just kept thinking about how I have accomplished nothing. I have started so many projects but never finished anything. I am a realist when it comes to death. I can accept death; I believe everyone has their time. I have accepted that I and all my loved ones will die. But I just could not accept the fact that I could die without accomplishing any of my goals. Like what has Vallesia accomplished?
Aftermath
While I’m grateful to still be alive, I’m honestly waiting for that hospital bill I know that will send me over. I am not a political person and tend to withdraw from conversations on politics, but when you know your hospital bills will be more than six figures, you just have to inform yourself and look at your reality.
While I have spoken on the U.S social mobility issue, I have never had any opinion on the healthcare dilemma. It wasn’t until I was applying for college that I realized that I could not afford it without getting into some debt. In order for me to finally acknowledge how corrupt the healthcare system is, something near-fatal had to happen to me.
Bellow I have added the GoFundMe that my sister has started for me.
