The scene: A hospital room in an intensive care unit. The patient is in bed and on a mechanical ventilator (a machine that helps him breathe) with multiple IV lines connected to him, and various bags of fluids and medications hanging on a tree next to the bed. He is being fed through a tube inserted into his nose. There is a large monitor with readings of his heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygenation, and blood pressure; the beeping is soft but consistent and you feel at the base of your brain. A whiteboard on the wall lists medications and times and other charted numbers in bold back and vibrant red marker.

Also present is a technician, performing an echocardiogram, sitting at a mobile desk with a big monitor with various displays. The expression on his face says that this is a serious and important procedure. The patient’s wife is quietly sitting in the corner in an industrial-type chair, looking tired and just staring off. The room is somewhat dark, gloomy, and quiet with only the sounds of mechanical breathing, the beeping from the monitor, and muffled and eerie ultrasound tones coming from the echo machine. There is one other element introduced (seemingly out of place?). Me and my guitar.

From the first strum, the mood of the room slowly........

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