Chapter 4 - Fourteen months earlier
Emily did not die fourteen months earlier.
She almost did.
There is a difference large enough to destroy a family.
She had been driving home from a medical appointment on Interstate 35 when a pickup truck crossed two lanes during heavy rain.
The collision crushed the driver’s side.
Emily suffered:
A severe traumatic brain injury.
Pelvic fractures.
Three broken ribs.
A collapsed lung.
A fractured left humerus.
She underwent emergency surgery.
For eleven days she remained sedated in intensive care.
Then she entered what doctors called a disorder of consciousness.
Not a coma in the movie sense.
Periods of eye opening.
Minimal response.
Inconsistent movement.
No reliable communication.
Ryan became the primary medical decision-maker because he was her husband.
At first, nobody objected.
Including me.
He seemed devastated.
He stayed at the hospital.
Held her hand.
Cried.
Called me at two in the morning.
For the first six weeks, Ryan and I were on the same side.
May you like
Then the decisions began.
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