Happy birthday to me! 56 looks good on me!!

As I was unable to secure housing in the Lower Mainland, I am now staying at Dad's place to start my life over here in Southern Alberta. Along the way; I have discovered that while I will likely walk again, I won't ever be able to ride a bike again. T'ant pis!

What am I going to do next? Well, Dad and I are trying to set up my HBC pension. Someday soon we'll drop the right word to the right call center rep, and get things moving on that fixed-income I've heard about. 

My mind is mush. I may consider self employment, if I can find the right gig. I'm considering voice over and narration work. This means I'll have to put together a Demo.

Hello World, pt III.

 Ohhh...kay.

Let's see:

• I had a bacterial infection. 
• Did a few weeks in the hospital.
• Got sent to Care Life to rehab. 
• Had a massive pulmonary embolism. 
• Went back to the ER. 
• Was prepped for a thrombectomy. 
• Slipped into a  coma and my organs began to shut down. 

According to my sister Kathleen; my case quickly became critical.  There were crisis - level medications being pumped into me. All in an attempt to keep me from dying. 

Strike two.

Of course, while lying there unconscious at death's door; I flat lined a couple of times. 

Strike three.

My family in Alberta came to Vancouver. My kids were told they needed to say goodbye. 

My father, as any LDS patriarch would, gave me a Priesthood blessing. I don’t know what was said, (I was unconscious at the time) but I do recall some very fun and even a little prophetic dreams while I was out.

I finally woke up in an isolation ward at Royal Colombian Hospital. The private room, I was told later; was due to my vulnerable situation, and because COVID had finally arrived at lower mainland hospitals. I remember seeing a mylar helium balloon with a happy birthday printed on it. Which means I missed my birthday last year. 

I'm writing this on my birthday this year.

That was early August last year (I think), and a few weeks later I was back at Surrey Memorial for some iv medication treatment. The antibiotics cocktail was administered over the course of six weeks. However, my toes had gone necrotic (right foot), so back to Royal Colombian I went to get 'em amputated. Normal post-op recovery; and afterwards I was once again sent off to Care Life.  This was in September, I believe. The only outstanding memories I have of my time this time around was Thanksgiving, my kids visiting and bringing me Macdonalds, and Paul Tomlinson dropped in to visit for an hour or so. By November/December; I was transferred again to Queens Park physio facility in New Westminster. They were supposed to teach me to walk. Didn't happen. 

Got out of Queens Park December 8th. Spent about 90 days at Kathy and Grant's place. Moved on to live with Dad in early March. 

Hello World, pt II.

 Now, where was I? 

Ah yes, we'd headed off to the ER at Surrey Memorial. I was there for about two weeks. On or about June 18th, I was placed in a PATH facility for rehab. Care Life rehab residence in Fleetwood. 

After my first day at Care Life, I had a massive pulmonary embolism. Strike one. People  die all the time in care facilities. Accidentally. So when I tilted my bed back after dinner my first day. I immediately noticed the weight on my chest. I reached for the bed buzzer and pressed it. 

Item 1: this was sudden and unmistakable. This did not fool me into thinking it was just indigestion; and then kill me in my sleep later.

Item 2: those of you who have been hospitalized for an extended time know that you can never find those bed buzzers when you need them. Even when you can find them, they don't work, and even when they do work, there's no one at the nurse's station to answer. 

Lucky me. The buzzer was right there in reach, it worked, a nurse answered right away, and I told her I was having a Cardiac Episode, and she called 911 right away. I was delivered back to the ER  -- in 30 minutes or less. Sometimes the system works! 

The Embolism came about from lots of damaged vascular tissue in my lower legs. They broke up into clots, and those clots wound up getting stuck in the plumbing of my heart and lungs. Those who have read the post previous to this one will not be surprised. The ICU tried iv medication to clear the blockage, but to no avail. Next; they proposed a manual thrombectomy. You remember that wound in my groin? The one I was told was when they nicked my femoral artery while removing my iv mainline? There may be another explanation for that; that was the entry point for the thrombectomy.

I'm relying a lot on Kath's memory of events from here.

Apparently, the procedure went okay, they cleared out the blockage. But I wasn't recovering as anticipated. Sometime around June 21st, I fell into a coma. I'll pick this up tomorrow. 

Hello world, I almost died - twice!

It has been a few years since I last updated this blog. You see; I had a Grand Medical Adventure. 

This Wild Ride began in mid May of 2021, over a year after my headlong fall down the entry staircase of my basement suite in South Surrey. I always said going up and down those stairs was going to make - or break! - me. Well, after that fall, I was pretty broken. Remember that dislocated clavicle I had? Well, it was forcefully relocated for awhile after that incident. 

Let's  have an honest assessment of my health after January 2020:

• I was 285 pounds and 'pre-diabetic'. Now, 285 pounds was my average weight. My actual weight was as high as 305, and I saw 275 lbs for a little while, after I started working out and obsessively weighing myself on the digital tare scale at work. 
• My waist was 52" around. 
• The issues that began in my lower back had moved to my hip joints, and my mobility gradually declined to where I started using Bridget's cane to help me get around. I then lost Bridget's cane (sorry, Birdie...).
• My favorite form of exercise was now too painful to do. I had completed the RANGER folding frame ATB. (It turned out awesome, BTW!) I ended up donating it to Kath. 
• I was eating crap. A change of diet was definitely needed.
• My personal hygiene was pretty good, but I was neglecting cleaning and upkeep of my living quarters. Most notably; in my tub/shower. 

Not very surprising then, that I picked up a Group G Streptococci infection in my legs. It started with a small scratch on one calf in the shower; but it soon spread to both legs, below the knees. After TEN DAYS of not correctly treating the infection, AND ignoring Kim's advice to go to a doctor and get some antibiotics; I had a lovely set of running sores on both lower legs. 

Saturday, May 29th, I went to work as usual. I then noticed the puddle of pus I'd left under my office chair. I excused myself from work, drove myself home, and called BC Ambulance service.  

That was my last Normal Day.

Sorry; but I will have to stop here and pick this up later.