What The Heck Happened?

 YAY!

I woke up alive and I am home again so happy to be alive and be out of that hell hole of a hospital I recently visited.

Currently I am learning to walk, learning to climb steps, and learning to eat again. Sounds crazy, but I had a feeding tube shoved down my throat and only recently have I been able to talk above a tiny whisper. 

The boring truth is that somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas I ran into someone somewhere with pneumonia. 

I urge you to consider reading Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs 


Also:
There is NO Health Pill!: Secrets to Getting Off or Avoiding Prescription Drugs and Reclaiming True Health

The fun version of what happened to me would be something along the fun and foolish lines of A Whale of a Christmas Tale. (I wrote this sometime in the 90's)

I should have read the writing on the wall. I just knew that I was feeling pretty sluggish day after day.  I feared it might be my final days on planet earth so I just woke up with enthusiasm and this year said yes to several fun events in the local RV park when normally I say no and stay home alone.

Ironically I had tried to see a new doctor nearby but ran into problems with their unwillingness to address my current concerns.

My immune system is hugely compromised for complicated reasons, mostly from the results of battling a nearly lifelong problem with a rare disease that has no known cure and advanced to a very painful stage 3 some time ago.  I am not contagious to others, but I live with a ton of problems and pain which I seek to handle with alternative solutions. A very lonely road in this country where the overuse of prescription drugs seems to be the norm rather than the exception. 

My rolling hospice changed about 18 months ago to my own little stationary hospice in an RV park in a tiny rural town in Florida. In December, day after day I was losing energy finding it difficult to walk the dog or ride my bike.

By the end of December I was in such a poor state that a visiting friend called 911 for an ambulance. I was dumped in a hospital about 60 miles from home. 

It turns out I had pneumonia in the worst way. Perhaps I was knocking on heaven's door. But heaven refused to take me and eventually sent me back to planet earth.

Angels came, angels went, there were huge problems in managing my care. The hospital wasn't following my directives but rather did a lot of damaging curious things to my body. I am covered in black and blue bruises from head to tail as if I lost a wrestling match in the worst way possible.

60 miles away friends had stepped in to walk the dog and feed him. I am sure he was bewildered that I suddenly vanished from his life. 

He turned 9 years old recently!  We celebrated with a few doggy treats and a brand new frisbee type toy he loves. He had spent years wearing out his old one so he was thrilled to get a new replacement.

I gave up drinking ages ago in favor of daily water, typically I drink 2-4 quarts  a day to keep my liver and kidneys puttering along. I arrived at the hospital in huge distress but clearly quite sober.

Anyhow, after about two weeks in ICU, the hospital couldn't kill me, so they finally gave up trying and sent me home. 

It would have been nice to learn about eating, walking and climbing steps first, but medical care in America has changed dramatically. More on that later...

So here I am ALIVE! It's a beautiful day and I blessed in so many ways to be here. 

I came home with alternative treatments and more medical equipment. I don't think I can do another hell hole stay in an indifferent hospital. I have tons of paperwork to change and do, yuck yuck yuck. 

Crazy stuff!

I urge you to consider reading Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs 


Also:
There is NO Health Pill!: Secrets to Getting Off or Avoiding Prescription Drugs and Reclaiming True Health

The fun version of what happened to me would be something along the fun and foolish lines of A Whale of a Christmas Tale. (I wrote this sometime in the 90's)

 
It's a GREAT day to be alive! I am so lucky!