My eyes felt like they had been glued shut. I tried to open them, but they snapped back together. They were so heavy! My eyelids fluttered again and then a third time. Finally, I was successful in opening them, but I still felt like I was in a fog. The first thing I saw was a drop ceiling above me. I counted the squares, then realized there were a lot of beeping noises around me.

I rolled my head to the side, ignoring the pain the movement caused. A heart rate machine sat next ...