I'll start this off by saying this was one experience I wouldn't wish on anyone.
We had a holiday party on Monday 12/23 and it was pretty epic. Lots of liquor and beer and tons of food. Family, friends, most former employees and their families. I think about 30 people in total showed up.
I guess I had worn myself out in the preparations although other than being tired and needing a break everything was fine. On Christmas Eve had some family over my house for dinner and gift exchanges and again I felt tired but okay. Christmas morning comes and my head was just pounding. Migraine type of headache but not quite the same.
The day after I came into work but isolated myself out of production and away from everyone. I was in respiratory distress and felt like this sinus infection was getting worse, but nothing like the flu. Any type of exertion and I was gasping for air. I kept myself at my desk and just did computer work.
Hayley made me stay home on Friday and for the first time in years I did. I was pretty sure I'd get over it by resting over the weekend, but unfortunately my health continued to decline. I started getting a bit worried and every symptom I put into WebMD provided a different serious condition that required medical treatment. I was either pregnant, had a tumor, a broken or fractured bone, kidney stones... Nothing really mentioned the flu and like any man worth his salt knows a cold/flu in a man has the highest pain threshold on the scale just bellow CRPS and Kidney Stones but well above child birth.
I haven't had the flu in years and rarely get sick as it is. I take a lot of vitamins like A/D, C, CoQ10, E, Salmon Oil, Turmeric, Rhodiola and some nootropics. I've never had a flu shot either so I must have been doing something right. The only pharmaceutical I take is for high-blood pressure.
Like I said/thought, by Monday I should be fine or recovering, but I wasn't. Not only that, but I felt as if I was headed in the wrong direction. Not only was I gasping for air and felt the congestion in my chest one day, but the next it would switch to my sinuses, then back again. Very odd! However by that Sunday I felt like I was on the mend. By Monday, just in time for work, my tummy started to ache and not in a way I thought was normal. I began getting pain like food poisoning pain. I only had food poisoning once (from a beer no less): https://discoverxs.com/forum/pheromo...blend#post3603 and well this pain was hurting like that. What in heck could be wrong with me.
To me its a normal thing when you feel sick to self-diagnose so back to WebMD I went. I wasn't nauseous, I just had pain and after a while it wasn't so much as my stomach, but rather my solar plexus region or at least that's what I could figure. Kind of difficult to determine the pain location when you are doubling over and in the process it takes your breath away. On top of everything else, when you can't get air you begin a panic attack. WTF was going on?
I continued to decline and with each passing day I would get more and more symptoms. I drink a LOT of water (plain old water), nearly a gallon a day. I definitely wasn't peeing enough either. I was leaning more towards a Kidney stone but I didn't have the main symptom of being nauseous, but the pain I was experiencing was just horrible. Over the course of a few days I started to have the back pain symptoms and really felt as if I was on the verge of death. At one point I contemplated calling an ambulance, but I think delirium prevented me. I couldn't sleep, I could barely get around.
Finally I had the strength to drag myself to my doctor who I usually spend nearly 2 hours waiting each time to get in a room after my scheduled appointment. The only good thing to come out of it was I was in a room within minutes. I guess I looked like I was going to die as much as I felt I was going to die. Turns out somehow my body was rejecting my own blood.
As it was explained to me I had caught the flu (like I suspected) and it began to turn into sepsis (which is deadly and requires immediate hospitalization in the ICU). My doctor wanted to get me to the hospital, but I convinced him to let me go home instead. They gave me three doses of antibiotic shots and sent me home with a prescription for three different ones. The doctor told me he would have his NP call me to check on me and she did several times over the next couple days.
I like my doctor, except the waiting to see him part, as he is very thorough and seems like he really cares about me and my health. Although he is super quick to give you a prescription for whatever ails you. Many times he's given me scripts for prevention but I just don't fill them. The only one I take is amlodipine because high blood pressure is hereditary in my family on both sides. I try to avoid sodium but I do like pink-salt. Hopefully I can get off that by changing my diet and lifestyle. I was actually surprised the NP did call me, even on Saturday.
I was pretty confused when I had gone to see him and when the NP called she was super cool and took the time to explain how all this happened in such a short time. I ran myself down from the party and even though I typically don't get the flu, everything contributed to the illness. Apparently even the alcohol! She told me that typically a person will feel better and then like running into a brick wall it all returns but worse. Hmm that's exactly what I was feeling. When I went to see them I told them my kidneys hurt, which is why I thought it was a stone (never had one, but the symptoms are similar according to WebMD). My doctor and nurse practitioner both had the idea to test my blood and urine which showed telltale signs of going into sepsis.
Thank God I went to the doctor because as he and the NP stressed if I waited even a few hours longer I would have died and should have been in the ICU. The antibiotics literally worked miracles because within hours of those injections all those symptoms had subsided. Over the weekend I still had a general sense of malaise, but I could breath although still coughing up crap. I also have this terrible pain at times, that I cannot really place as to its origin. Times I thought solar plexus, abdominal, back, kidneys...just not sure. It hits very hard and is debilitating but I cannot figure out where the pain is. Strange, right?
Other than that I feel okay. I'm back at work today and feel great from where I did feel. Got my appetite back, no more coughing or sinus pressure either.
The moral of this post is not about sympathy or anything like that. Nope, its about a deep appreciation for life and those things you have to live for. There are so many bad things and people in this world, but there is a lot more goodness and for me, most of it stems from our community. I absolutely love what I do and the people who I do it for. There's a lot to live for and I honestly believe if it wasn't for the community I don't think I would have made it. Sepsis is pretty deadly (1/3 of all cases result in death usually within the first 12 hours). To get it and not have been in the ICU for just about a week is a testament to how much I love the community, my friends and my family. There is much more that needs to be accomplished and my journey is not yet completed.
Take care of yourselves and if you do get the flu, even if you don't usually go to them, seek medical advice when necessary. As someone who is half Italian/Sicilian with bits of German, English and Native American I can be as stubborn as a mule. I should have just went to the doctors in the first place but instead nearly killed myself.
I will still never get a flu shot (they even admit 80% of the time they are ineffective) but I just need to take better care of myself. I want to be around for a while. Like I said there's a lot yet to accomplish.
I love our community. I love you.
Stay healthy and happy 2020. May it be the best year yet for all of us!
We had a holiday party on Monday 12/23 and it was pretty epic. Lots of liquor and beer and tons of food. Family, friends, most former employees and their families. I think about 30 people in total showed up.
I guess I had worn myself out in the preparations although other than being tired and needing a break everything was fine. On Christmas Eve had some family over my house for dinner and gift exchanges and again I felt tired but okay. Christmas morning comes and my head was just pounding. Migraine type of headache but not quite the same.
The day after I came into work but isolated myself out of production and away from everyone. I was in respiratory distress and felt like this sinus infection was getting worse, but nothing like the flu. Any type of exertion and I was gasping for air. I kept myself at my desk and just did computer work.
Hayley made me stay home on Friday and for the first time in years I did. I was pretty sure I'd get over it by resting over the weekend, but unfortunately my health continued to decline. I started getting a bit worried and every symptom I put into WebMD provided a different serious condition that required medical treatment. I was either pregnant, had a tumor, a broken or fractured bone, kidney stones... Nothing really mentioned the flu and like any man worth his salt knows a cold/flu in a man has the highest pain threshold on the scale just bellow CRPS and Kidney Stones but well above child birth.
I haven't had the flu in years and rarely get sick as it is. I take a lot of vitamins like A/D, C, CoQ10, E, Salmon Oil, Turmeric, Rhodiola and some nootropics. I've never had a flu shot either so I must have been doing something right. The only pharmaceutical I take is for high-blood pressure.
Like I said/thought, by Monday I should be fine or recovering, but I wasn't. Not only that, but I felt as if I was headed in the wrong direction. Not only was I gasping for air and felt the congestion in my chest one day, but the next it would switch to my sinuses, then back again. Very odd! However by that Sunday I felt like I was on the mend. By Monday, just in time for work, my tummy started to ache and not in a way I thought was normal. I began getting pain like food poisoning pain. I only had food poisoning once (from a beer no less): https://discoverxs.com/forum/pheromo...blend#post3603 and well this pain was hurting like that. What in heck could be wrong with me.
To me its a normal thing when you feel sick to self-diagnose so back to WebMD I went. I wasn't nauseous, I just had pain and after a while it wasn't so much as my stomach, but rather my solar plexus region or at least that's what I could figure. Kind of difficult to determine the pain location when you are doubling over and in the process it takes your breath away. On top of everything else, when you can't get air you begin a panic attack. WTF was going on?
I continued to decline and with each passing day I would get more and more symptoms. I drink a LOT of water (plain old water), nearly a gallon a day. I definitely wasn't peeing enough either. I was leaning more towards a Kidney stone but I didn't have the main symptom of being nauseous, but the pain I was experiencing was just horrible. Over the course of a few days I started to have the back pain symptoms and really felt as if I was on the verge of death. At one point I contemplated calling an ambulance, but I think delirium prevented me. I couldn't sleep, I could barely get around.
Finally I had the strength to drag myself to my doctor who I usually spend nearly 2 hours waiting each time to get in a room after my scheduled appointment. The only good thing to come out of it was I was in a room within minutes. I guess I looked like I was going to die as much as I felt I was going to die. Turns out somehow my body was rejecting my own blood.
As it was explained to me I had caught the flu (like I suspected) and it began to turn into sepsis (which is deadly and requires immediate hospitalization in the ICU). My doctor wanted to get me to the hospital, but I convinced him to let me go home instead. They gave me three doses of antibiotic shots and sent me home with a prescription for three different ones. The doctor told me he would have his NP call me to check on me and she did several times over the next couple days.
I like my doctor, except the waiting to see him part, as he is very thorough and seems like he really cares about me and my health. Although he is super quick to give you a prescription for whatever ails you. Many times he's given me scripts for prevention but I just don't fill them. The only one I take is amlodipine because high blood pressure is hereditary in my family on both sides. I try to avoid sodium but I do like pink-salt. Hopefully I can get off that by changing my diet and lifestyle. I was actually surprised the NP did call me, even on Saturday.
I was pretty confused when I had gone to see him and when the NP called she was super cool and took the time to explain how all this happened in such a short time. I ran myself down from the party and even though I typically don't get the flu, everything contributed to the illness. Apparently even the alcohol! She told me that typically a person will feel better and then like running into a brick wall it all returns but worse. Hmm that's exactly what I was feeling. When I went to see them I told them my kidneys hurt, which is why I thought it was a stone (never had one, but the symptoms are similar according to WebMD). My doctor and nurse practitioner both had the idea to test my blood and urine which showed telltale signs of going into sepsis.
Thank God I went to the doctor because as he and the NP stressed if I waited even a few hours longer I would have died and should have been in the ICU. The antibiotics literally worked miracles because within hours of those injections all those symptoms had subsided. Over the weekend I still had a general sense of malaise, but I could breath although still coughing up crap. I also have this terrible pain at times, that I cannot really place as to its origin. Times I thought solar plexus, abdominal, back, kidneys...just not sure. It hits very hard and is debilitating but I cannot figure out where the pain is. Strange, right?
Other than that I feel okay. I'm back at work today and feel great from where I did feel. Got my appetite back, no more coughing or sinus pressure either.
The moral of this post is not about sympathy or anything like that. Nope, its about a deep appreciation for life and those things you have to live for. There are so many bad things and people in this world, but there is a lot more goodness and for me, most of it stems from our community. I absolutely love what I do and the people who I do it for. There's a lot to live for and I honestly believe if it wasn't for the community I don't think I would have made it. Sepsis is pretty deadly (1/3 of all cases result in death usually within the first 12 hours). To get it and not have been in the ICU for just about a week is a testament to how much I love the community, my friends and my family. There is much more that needs to be accomplished and my journey is not yet completed.
Take care of yourselves and if you do get the flu, even if you don't usually go to them, seek medical advice when necessary. As someone who is half Italian/Sicilian with bits of German, English and Native American I can be as stubborn as a mule. I should have just went to the doctors in the first place but instead nearly killed myself.
I will still never get a flu shot (they even admit 80% of the time they are ineffective) but I just need to take better care of myself. I want to be around for a while. Like I said there's a lot yet to accomplish.
I love our community. I love you.
Stay healthy and happy 2020. May it be the best year yet for all of us!
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