In the ancient Greeks, the word "coma" meant "sleep." People have always wanted to penetrate into this mysterious area of human consciousness, which is located on the border between life and death.
Once upon a time, almost four decades ago, Edward O'Bar was tall and attractive blonde. Then she developed diabetes. On the night of January 3, 1970, she awoke with severe pain caused by a reaction to a new diabetes drug.
The frightened girl was taken to the hospital. Either losing consciousness, now coming to her senses, she with tears asked her mother: "Promise that you will not leave me!"
“Of course not, dear,” her mother replied, stroking her hair. "I will never leave you."
These were the last words that Edward spoke and heard. She fell into a diabetic coma, from which she has not left for 39 years.
Edward O'Bar is now a middle-aged, gray-haired woman. She breathes and coughs, sometimes her eyelashes twitch. The rest of the time Edward lives in his absolutely empty world.
No one has been in a coma for so long. On March 27 this year, Edward celebrated her 55th birthday. Rather, her sister Colin marked it for her. Kay's mother, who has dedicated half her life to caring for her daughter, died last year at the age of 80. Before her death, Colin promised Kay to keep her word she had given many years ago and not leave her sister.
Courting Edward is not easy. “I spend all my time with my sister,” says 53-year-old Colin. - At 6 in the morning I wake up, warm up liquid food for her and feed her every two hours. I turn it over, wash it and, after checking my blood sugar, give it a shot of insulin every six hours. I also massage her so that her muscles do not atrophy, and I move her arms and legs."
Promotional video:
At night, Colin sleeps in bed next to his sister, just as their mother did for 38 years. She never turns off the night light so that Edward is not left in the dark. Taking care of Edward is difficult not only physically, but also financially. Food and medicine spend about $ 1,000 a week.
The doctors say that Edward will never wake up, but Colin lives with the hope that the older sister will one day regain consciousness. She hopes that taking care will help her get out of the coma. Colin reads her books every day that set her on an optimistic mood, discusses a lot with her and tries not to turn off the TV.
Long Sleep
Most lumps last from a few days to several weeks. The chances of recovery are diminishing with each day spent in this strange oblivion. And yet, the history of medicine knows several cases when patients came to their senses after years in a coma.
In 2006, for example, South African Luis Wilsen woke up from a coma that lasted five years. He fell into it at the age of 25, hit by a truck, and woke up after being given the sleeping pill zolpidem. Louis still takes this medicine every day and is slowly recovering.
Even more surprising is the story of the Polish railroad worker Jan Grzhebski, a resident of the town of Dzyadlovo, who woke up after 19 years of coma. In 1988, Yang, who worked on the railroad, was run over by a train, hit in the head and fell into a coma. Doctors predicted two, maximum three years of life for him, but his wife Gertrude did not agree with such a sentence. All this time she continued to look after her husband and expected a miracle. And the miracle happened.
Ian woke up in April 2007. In many ways, he had to start life anew. Grzhebski had an accident when Poland was still under the communist regime and there was a shortage of everything, including food.
“When I fell into a coma,” he said, “you could only buy tea with vinegar in stores. Meat was handed out on coupons, and huge queues lined up for gasoline. Now there are people on the streets with cell phones, and there are so many goods in stores that my head is spinning. But what amazes me most is that all these people are constantly complaining about something."
Yan's children - and he has four of them - over the nearly two decades that his father spent in a coma, grew up, got married and got married. The most pleasant surprise for him was the news that he was a grandfather. Yang saw 11 grandchildren and granddaughters for the first time in his life when he came to himself.
Unfortunately, the theory that it is difficult for people who have been in a coma to fully recover their health has been confirmed by the example of Grzhebski. On December 12, 2008, he died of a heart attack.
Over the past quarter of a century, there have been several cases of comatose births. Most often, children of such women are born prematurely. True, there are also rare exceptions. In July 2006, a Kentucky resident, whose name was not reported, was in a coma for all nine months of pregnancy, not only carried the baby before the due date, but also gave birth to a completely healthy baby girl.
Twilight Zone
Physicians know very little about coma, but there are some patterns. People who have been in a coma often have character changes. Some become aggressive and violent, while others become passive and indifferent. The vast majority experience severe depression.
Few managed to return from the coma. Few can tell what he experienced while in this state.
In 1988, a resident of London, Julie Bridgewater, was hit by a car. She sustained severe head injuries and spent almost 4 weeks in a coma.
“I kind of saw myself from a great height,” says Julie, “but I probably didn't always understand that it was me. I also changed my perception of time. It is difficult to put into words, but now I have a different attitude to time than I used to."
Mrs. Bridgewater vividly remembered how she fought death and "made a deal with herself, giving her word to live." She also remembered some of the events around her.
The first words after awakening Julie uttered in … Farsi. True, she studied this language many years ago, but forgot long ago. Despite the fact that physically she fully recovered, the mental state, she said, leaves much to be desired. Sometimes it seems to her that her body was stolen and replaced with someone else's.
She, too, could not avoid severe depression. But every time she wanted to end her life, she remembered the "deal" and banished dark thoughts.
Zakhar RADOV