Beyond Coma. a Rehabilitation Journey to Independence

• I am a coma survivor.
• I am also a medical doctor and a specialist in rehabilitation medicine (physiatry). I have the qualifications and the experience to write about my own rehabilitation from coma to independence.

I went into a coma in February 2016 after brain surgery for a tumor. I remained comatose till the beginning of 2021. I recovered consciousness after a series of miraculous events. This was during the pandemic. After an initial stage of bewilderment, not knowing where I was and where my family was, I began to recover awareness of myself and my surroundings. I was totally dependent on two caregivers. I then started this incredible rehabilitation journey that brought me to independence.

I had intensive physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy for nine months. I continued with physiotherapy for three and a half years. I found I had a "dead right" ear and needed an audiologist and a hearing aid. Although I am independent in all self-care activities now, I carry with me several residual effects of the coma.

I continued with an extended period of rehabilitation, with regular visits to the gym and working on new and novel activities to maintain and improve my level of function. I can now walk independently without aid and use a scooter for long distances. I faced many challenges and overcame most of them. I am a normal septuagenarian at present.

I hope my story will be a source of hope and inspiration to people with disabilities, and to their families and friends. This autoethnography should be of interest to doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, audiologists, psychologists, and all professionals who work with disability. It will enable them to understand disability from a patient's point of view. I was both a patient and a rehabilitation physician. I represent both perspectives.

This book is a rehabilitation challenge I set myself. The goal was to write it myself and self-publish it. A goal I accomplished despite significant brain damage from which I have recovered.