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My adventure ithe Covid19 Part 12 - The Thank You Post.

 By the title, you can see that this it a thank you post.

There are many people I would like to thank for their care of me while I was in the hospitals.  Unfortunately, even though I asked them their names, I have for gotten most of their names. 

On February 15, 2021 I went into the UTMB Hospital in Angleton, Texas because of Covid19.  It was not long before I was told I was going to be transported to UTMB Clear Lake.  An ambulance took me there not long after I entered the hospital in Angleton.  My first few days were fuzzy at best memory-wise.

What I do know is that I was taken care of in a caring and professional way when I was there.  It was a long stay, but I eventually progressed and got well.  The staff, the nurses and the doctors there were all great. 

Yes, I said I got well there at UTMB Clear Lake.  I was released with a clean bill of health.  No need to be on oxygen.  No real restrictions.

After 1 day at home, I became very ill.  On March 12, 2021, I entered UTMB in Angleton.  There was good news this time.  I did not have to be transferred.  The problem is the fact that I developed blood clots in my lungs.  Breathing became a chore, and I was on oxygen 24/7.  The staff here was also very caring and professional.  I could not have asked for better care.  I was released on March 15,

I developed a leg infection (also from a blood clot) and had to return to the hospital for treatment.  Fortunately, it was for treatment and release.

The history recap was for reference only.

I wish to express my gratitude, my genuine thanks to all who cared for me at both UTMB facilities. I can tell that they are professional and really put in their best to take care of their patients.  I wish I could thank them all by name, but my memory is not good enough, even though I believe I asked each one for their name.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. (I do not care if I sound like Gomer Pyle here)

 

 Stay safe!

My Adventure With Covid19 Part 11 (Opinion Piece)

 I don't give a lot of my opinions here.  Here goes my opinion on Covid19.

Do not live in fear.  Why do I say that?  Didn't I catch Covid 19?  Yes, I did.  The odd thing is I went out all over the place and I contacted new people every day.  It is the nature of my job and my business, What would I change if I could go back and do it all over again?  Nut much.  I do not know of any change in my behavior that would have prevented me from getting it.

Do not get me wrong.  It sucks for me.  Some folks get a little sick like the flu for a few days and get over it.  Me, I went into the hospital ( had it for 3-4 days before) on February 15, 2021. It is coming up to two months since then.  I am still on oxygen and blood thinners because of blood clots that formed in my lungs.  This sucks, as I have not really worked since then.  Thank God I decided to take out a disaster loan "just in case." This in case has turned out to be a good reason to have gotten the loan.  No income for 2 months (so far) has been rough - not just financially, but mentally.

I won't live in fear. I will be out and about as soon as practical with doctors' permission.

Stay safe!

 

My Adventure with Covid19 - Part 10

 

I am trying to patient.  Then again, I am one.

Dragging around my oxygen hose all day gets annoying at best.  I know I still need it long term, but it gets old fast.  It gets hung up in the bottom of the bookcase that is in my entry hall.  It seems that it gets caught on that bookcase nearly every time I walk by it. 

I consider it an unpleasant reminder of where I am in my recovery. The bottom line is it will be “a while” before I am set free of this oxygen line.  I still can feel my shortness of breath and my lungs straining if O try to take deep breaths.

Hopefully, my healing will happen more and more quickly.


More to come later.  Stay safe!

My Adventure with Covid19 - Part 9

 

OK, now I go back and look at all that has happened with Covid19.  My story will not be the same as someone else’s. I may have mentioned this before, but on of the strangest things to me is the fact that I never ran a fever.  It is hard to imagine how I could have been so sick with no fever.  The truth is I never had fever.

As of the writing of this, since getting Covid19, last night I got the best sleep. I did get up at least 5 times to go pee. That can be expected with the medicine I have been taking.  However, I went back to sleep right away each time.

Hopefully  I can soon share bout going out in public and/or getting off of oxygen.  This has been an adventure I do not wish upon anyone.

More to come later.  Stay safe!

 

My Adventure with Covid19 - Part 8

One more hospital visit (so far). I get cellulitis, which according to the report, is related to  a MRSA infection.  On March 29,2021, I had to go back to the hospital for treatment. They ran an ultrasound on my left leg, as it looked pretty bad.  It was red and swollen and somewhat in pain.

The test results revealed it was a MRSA infection.  I don’t know where I got it from, but all I know is that I wanted to limit my contact with other folks.

Apparently, The treatment they gave me of clindamycin for the infection, and furosemide for the swelling have done the trick.  I am still on both medicines as of this writing. They seem to be just the treatment I needed.  The redness and swelling are both almost completely gone.

I am really hoping this is the last complication I have with covid19. 

I know there is still a long row to hoe for me with covid19. I am hoping and praying for no more complications.

More to come later.  Stay safe!

My Adventure with Covid19 - Part 7

 

So far 27 days in the hospital. I now have a physical therapist to help me get back on track with breathing. I have been informed that it will possibly be a few more weeks that I will be on oxygen.  That means at least three more weeks before I completely get off of the oxygen. I have no timeline at the moment.

Now I am dealing with shortness of breath.  I do not feel bad.  I just cannot breathe as deeply as I am used to doing.

I have finally got into the routine of checking my blood sugar and giving myself insulin every day.  Here I will say screw you Joe Biden for reversing Trump’s actions to lower the costs for diabetes sufferers which resulted in much lower payments by folks on diabetes medications.  That was totally uncalled for.

More to come later.  Stay safe!

My Adventure with Covid19 - Part 6

 

After the 23 days in the hospital, I felt pretty good and went home. That lasted one whole day. After I was home for the one day, I began to feel horrible.  I found out why. I had developed blood clots in my lungs.  This would be the cause of my 2nd visit to the hospital.

I got put on blood thinners.  I now need to be on O₂ to get enough oxygen when I breathe. (as of the writing of this, I am on 2 liters of O₂ per minute).  This is something new to me.

I also have to take a blood thinner. This is something that means I have to be extra careful so as not to fall, as that can be tragic. I did fall once already, but it was not too bad. Fortunately, this stay at the hospital was only for 4 days.

More to come later.  Stay safe!

vMy Adventure with Covid19 - Part 5

 

Sleep- it is not over rated.  Through my whole time dealing with Covid19, getting sleep has been an issue. I never thought hat I would have issues getting enough sleep. Getting sleep has been quite a challenge. Now I have had trouble getting enough sleep. I often catch myself dozing off sometime during the day.

Fortunately for me, last night was the exception.  I got more sleep last night than I have in a couple of months. Part of the issue is the fact I was in the hospital so long.  I don’t know about you, but for me getting sleep at all was a huge challenge while I was in the hospital was quite a challenge. I catch myself dozing off when things are slow, but I don’t want to sleep during the day.  I want to sleep at night.

While it can be productive to do things at 4am, I would rather get on a schedule of sleeping during that time.

 

More to come later.  Stay safe!

My Adventure with Covid19 - Part 4

 

Well, the twenty-three days I initially was in the hospital was a tough time.  I could not be “visited” by anyone.  The only folks I got to see were the doctors and nurses caring for me.  These were all fine folks.  One nurse that previously had covid19 had no sense of taste or smell.  That is one thing that never happened to me, so I consider myself as blessed.

On March 6,2021 I was finally got out of the ICU.  I was in regular hospital room. Why was this a big deal?  I could finally go to the bathroom on my own.  Also I could get a shower. Those were great milestones for me.  You don’t realize how much you can miss simple things until you are deprived of them.

I will just stop here and say that the food in the hospital was not bad at UTMB Clear Lake. They did have a fondness for serving broccoli at least once per day.  I will admit that having coffee every day turned me into a regular coffee drinker.  There are worse things that could have happened to me.

More to come later.  Stay safe!

My Adventure with Covid19 - Part 3

 

Well, I had a long stay the first time I was in the hospital. I checked in on February 15,2021.  I checked out on March 11,2021. Twenty- three days I spent some time in the hospital.  Covid19 had left me very weak.   I would get encouragement when I would see m oxygen levels in my blood increase.

Covid19 gave me a very special gift.  That gift is diabetes. I was not diabetic before I got sick.  Now, I am a diabetic.  This is all new to me. So now I get to pay close attention to what I eat.  I test my blood every morning. I watch my blood sugar levels change from over 300 when I was first in the hospital to a low of 119 before I left the hospital.  That is quite a change,

Speaking of diabetes, they showed me how to give myself shots with a normal syringe. However, when I checked out, they gave me a “pen” to give myself shots that I dial in how much insulin to inject.  This was all new to me and I  had zero training on this.  The good thing is that it is an easy process to learn.

Covid19 gave me another special gift.  I lost significant weight while in the hospital. I lost about 40 pounds.  This ended up being very good for my blood pressure.  At least one good thing came from me getting Covid19.

There is more to come about the stay in the hospital I will work o tat post for next time.

More to come later.  Stay safe!

My "Adventure" with Covid19 - Part 2

TThis is how it all started for me. On February 11 or 12th, I am not real sure was when I started to get extremely sick. This was right after the "big freeze" of 2021. I had been working before all the time, and I thought I had been exposed in all my public dealings with Covid19, so I figured I had some immunity. Boy was I wrong.

After a few days of being quite sick, my wife insisted that I go to the hospital. On February 15, I went to the UTMB in Angleton, apparently, they either were not taking new Covid19 patients, or their allotment of Covid19 beds was full. I was transferred to UTMB Clear Lake right away.

The first few days are pretty fuzzy in my mind, as I was really out of it mentally speaking. I believe of the first or 2nd day I was there in the hospital, I got up and took all of the things I was connected to equipment off. I wandered around my hospital room dazed and confused. This was the beginning of a new journey for me. I was so sick, that I had no idea exactly how sick I really was. At the time, I could not think clearly at all. I could not remember what I had done that day, or conversations that I had already had.>p? This was just the beginning of a long and hard recovery, and I really had no idea want awaited me in this process.

More to come later. Stay safe!

Covid19 Has Been a Challenge

I have experiencedquite a time withCovid19.Idecided to chronicle my experience with this pesky disease. Just to give you a tease of what is to come, I have been to the hospital 3 times.I have 28 days in the hospital, allCovid related. This has been quite an experience. Many changes have taken place for me and in my life. It will still be some time before I get back to "normal." I won't be able to work in the classic sense for at least a few more weeks. for the next several days I will chronical these events in this blog. I am hoping it will be a bit therapudic for me as well. All the best until next post.