a roommate

I can't remember his name and that bothers me. We shared a room on the 9th floor - the Spinal Ward. I was recovering from back surgery. He was very young. And very newly married. His story haunts me. He and his wife were driving home from their honeymoon. She was driving and he was the passenger. He was sitting too low in the vehicle, slouched and his seatbelt was not sitting over the hips but across his belly. I never found out how the accident happened but the result was horrific. The impact was so severe that the seatbelt sliced through all his internal organs and severed his spinal cord. Not only was he paralyzed from the waist down but he had massive internal damage that needed to be repaired.

Our beds were separated by a yellow curtain. Everyday, 3x a day, he would swing over holding a large stainless steal bowl and vomit out the contents of his stomach because it could not be digested. The stainless steal bowl would push the curtain over my bed and I would turn my head. He was nourished through a tube inserted in his foot.

His wife came every day, but as I remember them I realize that there were no parental figures. They were on their own with the hospital staff. Where was their community?

He left while I was still recovering. He was moved to a Rehabilitiation Hospital where they work with people with spinal injuries. I have been there too; visiting my sister after her stroke. It is a good place. He had a long difficult future ahead of him. I wonder if they are still married. I wonder if he survived all the other surgeries.

Ever since then I am HYPER CONSCIOUS of where the seatbelt sits. Over the hips. And no slouching. Not in my car. Not ever.