Memories of 2016

 I'd been feeling really unwell with cold-like symptoms and overwhelming fatigue since the summer of 2015. Then in early march 2016, I collapsed at home and Billy called an ambulance.

I was left in a corridor in the hospital for well over 12 hours, then finally got a place in their assessment room. While the medical staff were waiting for test results I went into cardiac arrest and had 3 lots of CPR carried out by a dishy medical registrar (he met me later on).

I then spent several days in an induced coma in ICU and spent 3 weeks in hospital altogether.

Nobody explained why I was so ill, but when I got bored one night on the ward, I read my hospital notes which said I had arrived at the hospital with multiple organ failure.

After I came home from the hospital I had to build a new lot of memories as I didn't know what kind of person I was, nor what kind of relationships I had with family members.

I recognised my husband and stepdaughter when they visited me in the hospital but didn't know how well I knew them. I had to get to know them as new people in my life.

My adult son came to stay with us for a few days after I came home and when I opened the door to him, I didn't know who he was. It's been 6 years since my cardiac arrest and we still have times in conversations where he needs to remind me of some things we used to share memories of.