On October 2nd 2023, I was on an operating table at The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, having a hip replacement following an accident on an e-scooter.
On October 2nd 2024, I was sitting in a coffee shop at Brisbane Airport, waiting for Nathan to arrive so we could organise transport to the Retreat.
What happened there was almost an out-of-body experience.
Let me explain.
On September 29th last year, I hired an e-scooter to return to my hotel after the final day of a conference I attended. About 200m from my destination, following a near miss from a pedestrian who (unknowingly) walked in front of me, I fell off the scooter onto the road. In the process, I broke my femur. This led to me requiring a hip replacement.
Before I was ready for surgery, though, I was diagnosed with pneumonia. This was a complex medical situation. I didn’t fully understand how serious this was at the time. After a lengthy discussion with the surgeon (a discussion I have absolutely no recollection of), it was decided to proceed with the surgery.
As they were beginning the procedure to bring me back to consciousness, I went into respiratory arrest – although I was breathing, I was not getting enough oxygen. So they had to put me into an induced coma in order to keep me on the respirator.
I stayed in the coma for six days.
When I came to, I was completely oblivious to the drama I had been through. I was to learn that six days in ICU is huge and has long-term neurological effects. It even has a name – Post Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) and is likely to take at least 12 months to resolve fully.
The result is that I have not been able to work at full capacity for the last 12 months.
I was coping fairly well with that until June this year when a perfect storm hit me.
Firstly, at the airport, waiting to catch a plane to a conference in June, I became quite ill and had to be taken by ambulance to hospital, where I was, once again, diagnosed with pneumonia and a viral infection. It took about four weeks to recover fully from that.
Then, my wife became ill with a mysterious respiratory illness that lasted for more than eight weeks and required a stay in hospital.
On top of that, we had decided to sell our home of 40+ years to downsize. The house sold in August, and we are currently in the process of cleaning out 40 years of accumulated junk and packing up what’s left in readiness for the move in November.
With all this happening, the Black Dog (depression) finally caught up with me. I wasn’t getting out of bed until 10am some days and was effective for only about two hours a day.
This was how I was when I arrived in Brisbane for a retreat with some colleagues. I was concerned I would not be able to fully participate in the retreat.
So here I am, sitting in an outdoor coffee shop at Brisbane Airport, waiting for a colleague who l was going to share a ride with. I had about an hour to kill, so I had time to relax and take in the beautifully mild Brisbane weather.
This reminded me of how I had wanted to return to Brisbane in October because the weather had been so nice when I had been here in hospital 12 months earlier.
Then it hit me. In all my planning to come to Brisbane for the retreat, it had never once occurred to me that I would be arriving on the anniversary of that major event.
In fact, it was now 12 months to the day (perhaps even to the hour) that I was on the operating table.
It was as if a bright light turned on in my head. I had made it. I had made a year since that huge event. I was still alive.
In a moment, I was a completely different person. The black clouds in my mind lifted to be replaced by bright sunshine.
I felt a surge of energy.
In the days since, that energy (which has been missing for months) has remained.
I am looking forward to the next 100 days with enthusiasm and excitement.