By Cheryl Stowe
Mondays are rounds at Shepherd. My attending neurosurgeon, Dr. Murray, comes into each room on the SCI floor at 8am to review progress, ask questions, answer questions, and tailor our medical care for the upcoming week. He is accompanied by whichever resident happens to be doing his neuro rotation with us at the time. My […]
Read More
One week after my injury, I was flown by a fixed-wing medical jet to a specialty critical care hospital for spinal cord injury in Atlanta – Shepherd Center. I spent 9 long and amazing weeks there, of working my ass off, physically and mentally, all day, from 6am-6pm, 6 days a week, to learn a […]
Read More
When I first came to a full understanding of the severity of my injuries in the intensive care unit, everything was still burry. My vision was of colors, light, and movement alone, like an impressionist painting. Words made sense, but only at a strange instinctual level whose sole purpose was to differentiate small talk from […]
Read More
“Cheryl, stop chewing on your tubes.” A disembodied male voice speaks to me out of the darkness somewhere near my feet. I realize I am chewing on something soft and pliable in my mouth. It sticks together when I bite down in a not unpleasant way. It is difficult to breathe. “Cheryl, you’re in the […]
Read More
(From TEDx Furman University, “Shatter” – March 21, 2015) On March 29, 2005, I survived a serious car accident. After a long night of dedicated alcoholic consumption, I trusted someone who said he was “totally cool to drive”. He wasn’t. And less than 48 hours later, I woke up in an intensive care unit. I […]
Read More
I admit it. I’m a Facebook junkie. But I very rarely look at my newsfeed. I’ve tagged pretty much all the people whose lives I actually kind of care about, so I just check my notifications. And every time I click “Home”, I’m reminded why I don’t do it that often. Yesterday, a chick with […]
Read More
My parents were in town this weekend. Friday night we all went to the Country Diner – which is literally 50 yards from the base of our driveway, on the same side of the street. The sign reads, “Country Diner – Since 1948”. We met the owner Betty Jo who came to our table to […]
Read More
I went out to smoke this morning, and was greeted with a surprise: It’s Ballentrae Community Yard Sale Day. No, thanks. Dante may have left “holding a yard sale” off his list, but it’s somewhere in my Top 40. Twelve pirate garage sale signs have magically appeared in our front yard overnight, like a bed […]
Read More