Changing Sheets

Changing Sheets

          It was August 14, 1979. I was preparing to head back to the school where I had been attending for the past year. My mother wanted me to change my sheets on my bed so that they'd be fresh before I left. The next week was going to be quite busy and I wouldn't have time.

          I pulled the old bedding off the bed and took the sheet and pillowcase and threw them down the clothes chute to the laundry room. My sister was supposed to change her bedding, but she decided to visit a friend instead. I put the pillow and comforter on her bed and proceeded to unfold the fresh sheet to get it on the bed. It was a fitted sheet with a Mr. Magoo cartoon on it. I was nineteen and I was still using cartoon characters. I wanted to use a colored sheet, but my mother had other ideas.

         After tucking in the two top corners of the mattress, I started with the foot of the bed. The first corner went well, but the corner closest to my sister's bed didn't. I tried lifting the mattress to make it fit better. As I did this, I heard a "pop" in my neck and knew right away what happened. I started crying and screaming and went to the kitchen where my mother was. She saw my neck was swollen and I told her I had a horrible headache.

          My mother knew that I would have to see a neurosurgeon and fast. What had happened was that a connector in my neck had come apart. Now fluid was going all over and that was why I had the headache. She took me to a doctor who treated me for back troubles I had five years prior. I was in surgery two weeks later, and as it turned out, everything had to be replaced. Although I have been through the surgery several times before, I still had the nagging fear that I would not wake up. I did, but this would be the beginning of a six month journey that would test my will and give me a new lease on life.

          It turned out that the surgery was performed by someone who, in my eyes, wasn't qualified. The journey took me six months, eight surgeries, and having three life threatening diseases. I haven't had any more revisions since then.

          I was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus, which is called "water on the brain", at three months old. I have been shunt dependent ever since. Who would have known that doing a simple chore of changing sheets would be a life changing experience?

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