The first thing I remember upon waking up is voices.  For a minute, I thought I had woken up in Heaven; everything was so dazzling bright and white; the lights hurt my eyes.

I then felt a cool, soft hand caressing my forehead.  I thought it was an angel or possibly even Jesus Himself, but when I opened my eyes, I was shocked to see a woman nurse in a pink hospital uniform bending over me.  Her eyes were black but they sparkled with kindness; a big smile wreathed her dark complexioned face. 

"Welcome back to the land of the living", she said.  "Great to see you're finally awake, sir."

I couldn't ask where I was: something was down my throat; it terrified me.  The nurse must have seen my panicked expression because she said, "Sir, you can't talk.  You have a tube down your throat: a ventilator.  The doctor will be removing that today sometime; don't you worry.  We've been taking good care of you. Everyting's going to be okay."  She smiled again.

I guess she must have seen the unanswered questions in my face regarding Annie, my wife, and Sarabeth and Chase, our two kids.  She then said, "The doctor will be in shortly to talk with you.  Don't you worry 'bout a thing. It's going to be alright. I promise you that."

That was when I passed out from the pain that enveloped my body (or had I died again??).  Everything suddenly went black.

~To be continued.~