Surviving the ICU — Chapter 7

The Walking Dead

I had learned to sit up on my own and maneuver myself to sit at t he side of my hospital bed, and I had been able to start standing up with the help of the physiotherapists (PTs) and a hydraulic powered device. That continued a couple of times and on the third session I think they asked me to walk with the walker to the doorway of my room and back. I managed to do it, but I was stunned, concerned and somewhat dismayed at my legs and feet. They felt like they were not my legs and I was walking on stilts or artificial legs; similar to how your legs feel when they fall asleep. My feet felt particularly funny and I did not have full sensation in them. But I pushed through it.

“Stay hard!”, David Goggins, the retired US Navy SEAL, bellowed at me.