While You Were Sleeping......

As the television viewing seasons go from year to year it becomes harder and harder to find something good to watch. But, since last year was the last for one of my favorite programs ER when they came out with a program called Mercy I was curious. I knew it wasn't going to be the same type of hospital drama but thought I would watch a few times and give it a chance.

Overall it is a pretty good show. This past episode in part was about a man who had an accident and was in a coma for 10 years. Their have been several over the years who have been lucky enough to awaken from long-term coma's one thing you don't think about is the psychological issues it can do. Ten years is a very long time and alot happens in a ten year period. That was the basic premise of the story was the things in history that he missed and the changes he was going to have to accept. In one conversation with the nurse she had taken him for a ride in his wheelchair and they were overlooking New York. She randomly mentioned, we had a Black President, the technology such as IPODs, GPS, etc. As he was listening and looking out at the skyscrapers he asked, "Where are the towers?" She explained all the things that had changed because of 9/11 to him.

This also took me back to when my granpa had his stroke in the 70's. They said although he had a severe brain stem stroke and was unable to verbally communicate he could possibly hear what was going on. He wouldn't respond as normal but you might get some form of a response. Several times when someone went into his room and talked to him he cried. I have heard several people who have been in situations where they were unable to speak say they could hear what was going on. The "hearing is the last to go" comes to mind.

Ironically the man in the program could remember little things, like the strange name of his girlfriend he had only dated briefly and the nurse who took care of him would say a certain saying in chinese to him everyday. Pretty amazing..

When you stop and think all that has happened it does make you feel a sense of wonder about all that happens over the course of a decade. Sometimes it's difficult being awake through it all but think how it would be if you slept through it.