I thought that I would take some time to create what is the first post of 2020.
It’s been a very difficult time over these recent months. So let me clue you in on what has been going on with me.
The 17th of October 2018 is where I will start. I already wrote a post shortly after this date that my apartment caught fire. Everything was lost. But thankfully nobody was seriously hurt.
I spent two full months homeless, living in a hotel and living off of donations that were graciously provided from friends and strangers alike.
In early December 2018, I had found an apartment complex who had taken the last two people who hadn’t found something more permanent. Myself and another neighbor.
It took some adapting to and eventually I would meet people and build relationships with a few of those who lived in the sixteen story high rise.
After the brutal Texas summer had passed and autumn was creeping in, I started not to feel very well at all.
Imagine being in warm weather and still having your body shake and shiver. I knew something was going on.
I thought that it was “just another infection” as I get them commonly because of the Spina Bifida.
By the 11th of November, I could no longer withstand whatever was trying to keep me down. It turns out that whatever it was… was not trying to keep me down, but rather it was trying to take me out. This infection that I had was trying to kill me.
So I went into the hospital that evening on the 11th of November.
After at least a dozen surgeries, the infection had eaten a hole on my body and was going deep towards the spine. Doctors said that just by looking at the wound, that they could barely see the bone of my spine because the hole was that deep down.
A dozen surgeries and all of them done within two weeks. The last one being an attempt to close the wound with a skin graft. And it was serious. The plastic surgeon continued to threaten to amputate my leg so that he could use the skin to cover the wound.
The amputation however did not happen.
My last surgery was on the 26th of November. Then began the difficult task of basically being in bed for 30 days without getting up or even sitting up. I had to be flat the entire time. Not a very easy thing to do.
I think that I was more upset about the fact that I was starting to spend holidays away from home and either a hospital or in a rehab hospital.
I had only been in the hospital for a week before I received a call from my brother that the apartments that had been rebuilt. ONE week!!!!
Christmas was difficult. And my birthday in January was coming soon. I had made plans for that day to go to San Antonio, Texas that day. And I was afraid that all the money that I had spent would go to waste.
In early January, I was sent to “skilled nursing.” But don’t get me started on that because I will bitch and complain from start to finish.
But I did receive some medical and wound care there. Then finally, on the day of my birthday this year, wound care said that my wounds were all gone and they had nothing to tend to.
And yet I missed my trip to San Antonio, Texas. In order to save myself from financial destruction, I had to sell the tickets to the concert that I had. I lost about $60 USD in that adventure.
Finally in the month of February, I started pushing staff about a discharge date. While I was there, I was receiving physical therapy and occupational therapy as well as the nursing care.
I pushed and I pushed hard. Asking just about every day when I would be released from both types of therapy. And I had done so until I was given a date for discharge.
I was focused to do whatever it was that I needed to do to make sure that I did in fact LEAVE on that date.
Family flew in from Atlanta to give some extra help in those first few days but after 492 days since the fire, the apartments were rebuilt and I finally returned to a brand new apartment.
And at the time of this being written, I am on my second week of being here and still trying to get used to things. I am happy to be out of the care of any medical facility and back to a life of independence as much as I had before.
I’ve learned so many things about my own personal health and I learned about how other people in my life, no matter how big or small, actually love and care about me.
But for now, it is very slow. I cannot be sitting in the wheelchair for very long. After a few hours, I have to lay down. And I am hoping that soon that I will heal from the inside as well as the outside and I can get passed this current situation and get on with life.
Going to shows for a while, are going to be very few and far between. I’ve been to two already and heavily paid the price for doing so with fatigue and pain.
Also moving forward, I’ve put out a poll on social media. The response is that I should go back to doing show reviews. So every show that I attend locally or whatever, I will be doing blog posts. But I will start fresh and create a new blog specifically for that purpose.
I’m looking forward to putting all these days behind me and leaving them to be nothing but a faded memory.
Dambreaker 