The Dirty Details

January, 2011


I am on a personal high since being blessed with yet another chance at this life.  The summer of 2007, I was in ICU, then CCU at Baptist due to a perforated appendix that I didn't know I had for 3 days.  By the time I got to the E.R. then out of surgery, they had little hope that I would survive, as I was septic as hell and had to have 3 transfusions, dialysis, and a ventilator, but I did survive!!


Then, last year, Nov. 20, I was at the E.R. again with seizures.  They were not sure what it was, but they were willing to release me.  While I was waiting for my ride, I experienced a Grand-Mal seizure.  They lost control of me in the hall and I flailed around bashing my head against the floor several times until finally a group of 9 E.R. personnel was able to get me on a gurney and get me sedated and restrained.  The seizures continued relentlessly.  They ended up intubating me, and sometime later, more dialysis and 3 more blood transfusions as well as a huge amount of antibiotics for pneumonia.  After about a week or so (I think), they removed the breathing tube and performed a tracheostomy so I had a tube coming out of my neck to breathe via the ventilator.  At some point, they removed the tube and I began breathing on my own (I believe it was after about a month).


I just woke up one day and I was back.  They took me out of ICU and let me recover for a week in a private room, then home with home-nurses.


I have no memory whatsoever of going to the E.R. or ICU.  I was comatose for about a month and a half.  I still have spotty short and long term memory loss, but after visiting with a couple of people who were also in comas, after some amount of time has passed, you get some of it back; maybe not all of it, but every little bit helps.  Needless to say, but I’ll say it anyway; I gave up smoking and the “drink” on 11/20/2010 and haven’t touched either since.


Things are just so different now.  This is what we’ve come to know as “Grace”.  We certainly can't explain it any other way.  I could not be more thankful or be happier if I tried! 


Life is grand!  :O)