Ask Lemmy

Had a stem cell transplant to treat blood cancer. It wasn’t entirely successful but killed off so much that they told me to do it again six weeks later. Brutal going through mega-chemotherapy for so long, but five years later, I have “no evidence of disease”.

Had a colonoscopy in June, they pulled 17 polyps and said that, even though there was no cancer, finding more than 5 meant coming back in January.

January rolls around, 6 more polyps + stage 2 colon cancer. They removed my entire sigmoid colon in Feb.

I’ve undergone several severe treatments throughout my life. Tragically, I succumbed to an aneurysm and a stroke on my fifth treatment. Ironically, I somehow sensed my impending demise.

As my family was informed of my passing, I remained in the surgery room, sitting upright and babbling like a wild gorilla. To preserve my brain function, they placed me in a medically induced coma and administered an ice bath for over a week. Upon awakening, I found myself speaking and realizing that I needed to relearn English. In the process, I inadvertently forgot three languages.

They informed me that I would be in the hospital for months, relearning motor skills, walking, and recovering from pneumonia. Remarkably, I managed to discharge within a little under a month.

A common question people ask is whether I experienced heaven or hell. The answer is no; there was simply a peaceful, empty void devoid of any connections. I vividly recall being torn from this state and sitting upright, babbling. However, that week-long coma was an absolute torment in my mind, as my heavily medicated subconscious interpreted it as 8 decades of brutal mental torture that I still vividly remember.