take it all away
September 19, 1998
What is it like to be 
almost on the verge of death 
for a long time 
I know 
that seems like a silly 
question 
is it pointless to 
actually go through it and life 
for a brief moment to know 
what it’s like to almost fly 
I found out weeks after I  
was in the hospital 
it was 
then that I found out little 
details about my being in the 
hospital 
what the 
doctor did to me  
while I was in there  
and unconscious  
whether or not 
they were helping me or 
hurting me 
I wouldn’t have known 
I was unconscious 
they put a piece  
of metal in my chest to stop 
future possible blood clots from 
travelling to my heart, or lungs, 
or brain 
I don’t know  
if I need one of these pieces of metal 
in my body for the rest of my life, 
but I can never get it out 
and it would have been nice if 
someone informed me of this after it  
had already been done to me 
there can be 
all sorts of things done to you 
when you are at a weak moment 
these things being done 
to you could have an effect on you 
good or bad 
X-rays were taken of me 
a ventilator was on me for 6 days 
All I knew at the time was that 
most of my rights were being taken 
away from me 
and I didn’t have my car 
and I couldn’t live at home 
I mean, what if one day something went 
wrong in your body, and while you  
were laying in bed to take a nap, your 
heart just stopped beating 
what would happen to you 
and your life if you heart just 
went out, and then something just 
happened and then almost suddenly, 
what if just then you were slipping away 
Okay, don’t use that example, but maybe 
it will help you think about what it 
must be like to vanish 
What if that happened to you 
if something shocking just sort of 
happened to you 
and you made it just fine 
and people were worrying about 
you and they thought you might 
not make it and they had to think 
that you may be gone and they  
had to come to terms with that 
Would you clean up 
your room 
Would you stop making 
all of the frivolous purchases 
on things you don’t really need 
Would you try to be nicer 
It answers 
so many questions when you 
suddenly start to think of things that way 
### 
take it all away (edited) 
 
I found out weeks after 
it was then that I found out details  
they put a piece of metal in my body  
to stop blood clots  
 do I need a piece of metal 
  in my body for the rest of my life, 
X-rays were taken of me 
a ventilator was on me for 6 days 
All I felt was that most of my rights  
were taken from me
  
  
Copyright Janet Kuypers. 
 All rights reserved. No material 
may be reprinted without express permission. 
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