'I felt like my 団体／死体 was on 解雇する／砲火／射撃': Woman 述べるs what it is REALLY like to be 半分-conscious in a 昏睡 for five weeks after her entire 団体／死体 was 鎮圧するd by a トラックで運ぶ in a road 事故

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Colleen Alexander, now 42, was cycling home from work when she was 鎮圧するd by a トラックで運ぶ

Colleen Kelly Alexander was 38, newly-married and trying for a baby, when she was run over by a freight トラックで運ぶ in October 2011, with her entire 団体／死体 ripped apart.?

She had already undergone brain 外科 in 2007 and had been 戦う／戦いing lupus for years.

But 非，不，無 of that 用意が出来ている her for the agonizing 戦う／戦い which began on a fresh 落ちる afternoon in New 港／避難所, Connecticut, as she cycled home from work.?

Alexander, a triathlete and trained EMT, lost so much 血 that she died '公式に' twice - once for 20 minutes and once for 10 minutes - and then 'a few other times 同様に' in the 48 hours after she was struck.

In the hospital that night, her husband Sean (who thought she had just broken a 脚) was 存在 continually 勧めるd between two rooms - the normal waiting room and the '安全な・保証する ' room where families are told their loved-one has died.?

Once 安定させるd, Alexander was in a 昏睡 for five weeks, を受けるing 29 外科s to 修理 her 完全に-粉砕するd pelvic bone, 脚s, internally-ripped arteries, rectum, vagina, and brain 傷害.???

They never thought that six-and-a-half years later Alexander would be walking, talking, motivational-speaking, and competing in 運動競技の tournaments.

Since, she has 戦う／戦いd repeated sepsis and cellulitis 感染s since the 出来事/事件, 大部分は because her 肌 is 汚職，収賄d and 引き裂くs easily, which could lead to a life-脅すing 感染.

Nonetheless, she has run 50 races and 40 triathlons.?

Now, she is 株ing her astonishing story in a 調書をとる／予約する, 感謝 In 動議 - which 含むs unerring accounts about how it felt to be run over, to die, to be operated on, and to 戦う／戦い through rehab.

'It's been incredibly cathartic,' Alexander told Daily Mail Online.

'I can get a little emotional at times,' she 認める, talking about reliving the horrors as she 開始する，打ち上げるs the 調書をとる／予約する this month.

This was the トラックで運ぶ that ran over Alexander on October 3, 2011, in New 港／避難所, Connecticut

Fight for life: Alexander (pictured, left, in a 昏睡 and, 権利, after she woke up) 公式に 'died' more than twice, and 要求するd 29 外科s to 修理 her bones, 四肢s and arteries

In the dark: Sean, Colleen's husband, was told to get to the hospital because his wife had broken her 脚. After hours in the waiting room, he 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd it might be worse than that

'There are some things that 誘発する／引き起こす me more than others.?The parts, for example, realizing that we wouldn't be able to carry a baby, or the 昏睡. Those are the toughest moments.?

'But the more I speak about it, the more it becomes an 適切な時期 to?反映する on this story that's so messily beautiful.'??

This week, Daily Mail Online will be publishing a 一連の 抽出するs from Colleen's new 調書をとる／予約する.?

The first is published here, in which Colleen 述べるs the horrifying experience of 存在 in a 昏睡 - and 存在 fully aware of everything around her:

'Nothing can take away the 苦痛': My hell-ish experience in a 昏睡 for more than a month

by Colleen Kelly Alexander

People have the wrong idea about what a medically induced 昏睡 is.?

They think it means you're 全く unconscious, unable to see or hear or 答える／応じる in any way. But that's not how it 現実に is.

For weeks after the 外傷／ショック, I felt like I was locked in a nightmare, 拘留するd in my 団体／死体. いつかs I was unconscious, but other tim es I 存在するd in a 明言する／公表する that has no 平易な comparison―it was my '昏睡 明言する／公表する.'

I couldn't 焦点（を合わせる） on anyone or anything, but I could hear sounds and feel sensations. I was so hot all the time that I felt like my 団体／死体 was on 解雇する／砲火／射撃. All I could think about was how much I 手配中の，お尋ね者 a glass of water. I began having thoughts that were almost hallucinations about lying in a pool of water.

Occasionally I would hear a familiar 発言する／表明する, and that brought some 手段 of 慰安.?

Alexander now has a 永久の stent in her pelvis to 茎・取り除く the 血 flow after ripping her main 内部の arteries. In her account, she 述べるs feeling the 操作／手術s

Whenever Sean （機の）カム into the room, he would call out, 'Hey, honey, I'm here.' I know that only because he's told me so since then, not because I 現実に remember it.?

He says I would open my 注目する，もくろむs and look around like I was looking 権利 through him. (Yes, you can even open y our 注目する，もくろむs in a 医療の 昏睡.)?

My brother Erin drove up from Florida in a fury when he got the news, and I had no idea.?

My parents would talk to me when they （機の）カム to visit, too, and I'd just 星／主役にする around the room then, too. I was too out of it to think, Oh, that's Sean, or That's my mom, but I did sense the familiarity.?

My 恐れる levels would elevate or 減少（する） によれば who was in the room. I relished when someone would 持つ／拘留する my 手渡す, 一打／打撃 my 長，率いる, or 徹底的に捜す my hair. That was the only good part.

The dreams were the bad part. Over and over, I had graphic nightmares about 存在 violently 強姦d and sodomized. I had no idea what was 現実に happening at the time to 原因（となる） these horrible images, but now I know that they （機の）カム when the 医療の staff were doing '負傷させる changes.'

My rectum was ripped all the way up to the sacrum, and my vagina was ripped apart, too. The nurses spent hours every day きれいにする my 負傷させるs and changing the 医薬 and 包帯s.?

Having already undergone one brain 外科 years before, Alexander's 事故 left her with more brain 傷害s

Even though I was ひどく sedated and had a breathing tube 負かす／撃墜する my throat, my 血 圧力 would spike during 負傷させる changes and they would see my 直面する grimacing.

That's what a medically induced 昏睡 really is like; nothing can take away all the 苦痛 without 存在 極端に dangerous.?

It just makes it 混乱させるing and dulled enough so that you don't 現実に die from the shock of it all.?

But overmedicating can kill you, too―so they try to sedate you with just enough anesthesia to keep your 団体／死体 as strong as possible to 保護する the 決定的な 組織／臓器s for 外科. Then they also have to 追加する 医薬 to 増加する 血 圧力 because the anesthesia 減少（する）s the 血 圧力 危険に low. It's a delicate balance.

So it becomes this otherworldly 煙霧 of an experience where your brain tries to put the puzzle together under the 影響（力） of 激しい 麻薬s.?

It's not like a 外傷／ショック-induced 昏睡 where you're fully unconscious while your brain resets itself, more like a 深い dream 明言する／公表する with moments of 部分的な／不平等な 認識／意識性.?

Sean, her husband, slept in the hospital every night for five weeks until she woke up

When Alexander awoke, she thought the 事故 had happened just hours ago

There is so little of that time that I remember 明確に. I'm told I was in a lovely corner room with windows, and that my family and Sean decorated the 塀で囲むs with cards and pictures. What I remember mostly was just the sound of the ticking clock.

I learned later that a friend 指名するd Susan stopped by nearly every day and read poetry to me from a 調書をとる／予約する 収集する d by Caroline Kennedy. My first 地位，任命する-外傷／ショック memory is of seeing Sean standing by my 病人の枕元, talking to me in midsentence.?

It was so 煙霧のかかった that I had no idea what he was 説, but I knew he was there, and I ばく然と remembered 存在 run over. I was in a tremendous 量 of 苦痛, and I saw a doctor, so I knew I was in a hospital.?

Then I spotted my parents across the room. I thought the 衝突，墜落 had just happened and I was amazed that my parents had been able to get there so 急速な／放蕩な. In my mind, hours had passed. Maybe a day.

'Honey, you've been in a 昏睡 for almost a month,' he said. That stunned me. I started crying.

'You were run over by a トラックで運ぶ,' he said gently.?

No one knew what I would 解任する of that day, or of any other day, really.?

For the next week or two, I would forget the basics pretty often. It was a little bit like Groundhog Day for Sean; I'd wake up and not know why I was in a hospital, and Sean would have to remind me again.

There were all these unfamiliar feelings―包帯s and tubes and 監視するs all over me. Then I looked 負かす／撃墜する and saw my colostomy 捕らえる、獲得する.

That made me cry harder.

• Adapted from 感謝 in 動議: A True Story of Hope, 決意, and the Everyday Heroes Around Us by Colleen Kelly Alexander. Copyright ? 2018 by Colleen Kelly Alexander. Used with 許可 from 中心 Street. All 権利s reserved