I Woke After 11 Days and Found My 9-Year-Old Grandson Asleep Beside My Hospital Bed—Then He Whispered, “Pretend You’re Still in a Coma”

Then three weeks in inpatient rehabilitation.

Walking again became a humiliating sequence of tiny tasks.

Stand.

Sit.

Breathe deeply.

Use the spirometer.

Walk ten feet.

Then twenty.