# Man wakes up after almost twenty years in coma, what do you tell/show him first? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 3, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937 "2003-07-03T02:59:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/41 "2003-07-04T01:05:02Z")
Hijabs? Muslim traditional dress? You mean Sari’s right? ---
**Author:** ![Ferris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ferris/32/11573_2.png) [@Ferris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferris)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/42 "2003-07-04T01:23:38Z")
**Tell:** 1. “You’ve been in a coma… for a long time.” 2. “No, we’re talking more than weeks, I’m afraid.” \ 1. "Well, they’re fine. \ **Show:** 1. Recent pictures of his family. (Possibly with 20-year old versions of the same, if available.) 2. A newspaper. (Similar to **Mangetout** ’s idea - start out with a medium he’s familiar with and let him ask questions about current politics, world events, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/43 "2003-07-04T03:50:20Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor \* > \*\*How about > Me-- “Cold War’s over”. > Him–_“Who won?”\* > Me–“Everybody.” > I can’t believe you people forgot about the Cold War! \*\* Best answer yet. ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/44 "2003-07-04T05:10:29Z")
Yes, start with something familiar. Then, dive headlong into the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Snake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Snake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/45 "2003-07-04T06:48:26Z")
Well , if I was the guy waking after 20 years and somebody showed me an 'NSync video , I’d ask to be put back to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/46 "2003-07-04T06:59:56Z")
All joking aside– Seriously, now. A person who’s been in a coma for twenty years needs reassurance that SOMETHING is constant and unchanging. Once he has this reassurance, he can begin to adjust to the myriad of thimgs that HAVE changed. So the very first thing you must do is introduce him to your dog. Let them wrestle and roll around on the carpet. Let the dog lick his face. Let them play tug-of-war with the sock. There will be lots of time to tell the patient about the changes in the world tomorrow morning. And he’ll be a lot more receptive after he’s played with the dog. ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/47 "2003-07-04T12:16:45Z")
**Green Bean** and **Ryan\_Liam** - Shalwar Kameez, aka Punjabi Suit. I agree with **Mangetout** , **Ferris** and **SnugTheJoiner** that it’s important to take things slowly, to reassure the guy that this IS the same planet. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/48 "2003-07-04T12:53:49Z")
Ease him into the idea that we don’t have flying cars for the general public yet. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/49 "2003-07-04T13:24:51Z")
Man, the temptation to really Eff with someone is powerful for me! But, first I would reassure him of how his friedns and family are doing. Let him get caught up on the emotional stuff. Then, explain to him the new world picture. This includes Cold War developements, 9/11, AIDS, hate crimes, amazing computer technology improvements, Jesus’ return and the Rapture, rebuilding from the global thermonuclear war after the Rapture took only the fundies but lost power halfway up the atmosphere and dropped them all on the Vatican, alt rock, new _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek_ movies/series, viagra, Hair Club For Men, cable TV, etc… Serious, tho… ease him into it AFTER dealing with the emotional needs. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/50 "2003-07-04T19:22:58Z")
No matter what _you_ did, his first question would probably concern his loved ones and whether they were all still around, right? How could you gently break that to someone so early on? Poor fellow. ---
**Author:** ![headchecked](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/258eb7/32.png) [@headchecked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/headchecked)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/51 "2003-07-04T20:37:54Z")
This was a question in the Miss Universe pageant a few years ago, I remember of the answers was something along the lines of, “I’d tell him to get up and stop dreaming and go out and do things.” The first thing I would show him would be the E! channel. Because the lives of celebrities we don’t personally know are more important than our own. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/52 "2003-07-05T06:14:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by renigademaster \* > **Tell him Cher won a oscar, and Sonny Bono is a respected congressman from Colorado.** Sonny Bono’s Congressional district was in California. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/53 "2003-07-05T06:16:09Z")
Sonny has also been dead for several years, and I’m not aware that he was ever particularly respected. He _WAS_ Sonny Bono, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937/54 "2003-07-05T06:40:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by voguevixen \* > **Wouldn’t Apple IIe and AppleII+ have been the height of home computing at the time?** No, the IBM PC, the Apple Lisa, and the just-debuted Apple Macintosh were. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Isabelle_I would show him all the cool inventions. Like the remote control!\*\* Television remote controls were invented in the 1950s. Most TV sets came with remote controls by 1984. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-wakes-up-after-almost-twenty-years-in-coma-what-do-you-tell-show-him-first/185937.md?page=2)