THE HOSPITAL MORNING
That morning, I couldn’t walk, couldn’t see, couldn’t speak. We went to another private hospital. They kept me in the emergency room for 3–4 hours. I couldn’t do anything except slowly turn my head side to side. “We need to admit the patient,” they said. My family was on their way, and I couldn’t feel anything but pain.
They arrived and told me, “You’re going to be hospitalized for a while.” I didn’t understand a thing. What was happening? When did things become this serious?
THE FIRST WEEK
Truthfully, I barely remember my first week. They were giving me constant antibiotics, taking blood, doing MRIs and X-rays. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw things so grotesque, they’re impossible to describe. I couldn’t escape the images. And when I opened my eyes, everything was blurry and doubled.
There’s one nightmare I remember vividly, but I won’t go into detail. Let’s just say I saw terrifying visions erupting from the cover of Gesaffelstein’s Conspiracy Pt. 2 — everything was black, red. Fire. Blood. Smoke.
As for the tests:
- The MRI showed a brain lesion.
- A lumbar puncture was done (first they suspected Lyme disease, but it wasn’t).
- Results came back clear.
- D-dimer was elevated (13).
- CRP was 120.
- No COVID, no influenza.
- Lungs were clean.
- A small gallstone was found.
- Lithium was 1.19 (this is important for later).
In short, they still couldn’t figure out what was making me so sick.
Some doctors asked if I had received the COVID-19 vaccine. I had — two doses of BioNTech. Could it be related? Some doctors thought maybe it was.
During this time, I had a short seizure. My EEG showed mild abnormalities, and just like that, seizure medication was added to my treatment list.
One strange thing happened. Was it the second day? I can’t quite remember. My cousin came to visit, and I was speaking almost normally. Just a slight rasp. I had no idea it would be months before I would hear my own voice again.
The rest? Blood, chaos, nightmares, fever.
