Back From the Grave – Part 3
I’d see Roy in that hospital bed along with all of the tubes and machines and I’d remember him the way he was when we met. How did this happen? Why did this happen? I remember the day it really hit me; Roy could die! Roy is dying! It may be selfish but I thought how it could have been me there instead of Roy. I didn’t do the amount of drugs he did, but one drug can kill you. That day that I got the realization that he could die, I cried and I stayed with him all day long.
It was an endless stream of nurses and doctors and beeping machines. Roy still didn’t open his eyes. He made no movement. Then one day, as his mother was there talking to him, the unbelievable happened; he opened his eyes. There was one collective, huge sigh of relief as everyone noticed his eyes were open. The doctors were called in and we all had to leave. Such a mixture of emotions swept over everyone. It was a good sign, but did it mean he was on the road to recovery?
When we were allowed back into the room, I saw something that at the time I thought was so beautiful. Roy smiled at me. I stayed back and let his family have their time with him. The doctor’s said that there was still work to do to repair his body, but he should make it. Roy had to undergo a couple of surgeries on his stomach and he had had a small stroke, which he would need therapy for but it wasn’t a major stroke.
Roy remained in the hospital for a long time. When the physical healing was done, it was time to move on to the addictions. He started therapy in the hospital and then went on to a residential rehab. Roy gained weight, he got his old sense of humor back and he was looking good. Roy was never a bad person. He just got himself into a bad situation. Roy had come full circle now and had gone from a healthy young man to a sickly drug addict, to near death and then on his way to recovery. Because of drugs, Roy was so near the grave they were digging the dirt.
But, he came back, back from the grave.
