There was an interval of which I remember nothing. It lasted for days, I'm told. After that, for another period of days, I have sketchy recollections of headaches; light; darkness; voices; and semi-consious- ness. I heard Julie say: "I'm here with you darling, and you're going to make it."

I remember being moved from one type bed to another, to prevent bed sores. The doctors, the nurses, Julie and Mr. Bishop, I remember hearing them, but not what was said, or my answers to them.

They tell me now that my coma lasted three weeks. I was semi- conscious for twelve weeks, during which time my brain was adjusting to the new body. Midway of the sixteenth week since the transplant, on a Wednesday morning, I awoke to see and understand clearly for the first time.

I well remember the first moments. In the room was faithful Julie, a nurse and a doctor. As my eyes blinked open, my first thought was: "Where am I?" The white ceiling in a faintly lighted room, was what I saw first. I noticed that I wasn't alone, next, and someone was holding my wrist. I turned my head and it was Julie.

"What am I doing here, Julie?" I asked.

She was weeping silently, and in a quivering voice she answered: "You are getting well darling. It has been a long hard fight, but you are winning now." She turned and I looked to see that she spoke to the nurse: “Get Mr. Bishop quickly. Tell him our patient is conscious and speaking. He wanted to know the moment this happened."

The doctor then spoke to me: "How do you feel now?" I noticed that he was new to me. A young brown haired man in a blue hospital uniform.

"I guess I feel fine. I'm not hurting anywhere. Should I try to sit up?" Quickly he answered "No!" I was puzzled by his answer. "Why? Am I hurt in some way?" The events of the past few months had not come to me. My mind had not remembered the last things that had happened. Julie bent over me, and kissed me on the lips. "I'm so glad that you have come back to me." Her lips tasted salty to my own.

"You shouldn't have kissed me Julie. You might contract this awful blue plague." I tried to lift up my hand to see it, but she kept it pressed down at my side.

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