Yesterday, I told the story of my harrowing near death experience on New Years Eve. If you didn't read it, I will provide the short version here.
I called 911 in the early morning hours of New Years eve. I was having severe shortness of breath (yes, I had postponed the call for a while thinking I would get better as I always had before). When the ambulance came, they saved my life on the way and then, the doctors saved my life again. Eight days in ICU with a tube shoved down my throat folowed by three more days in the hospital left me weak, but I am now recovering.
I came home and had to learn to walk again. The doctor told me to "walk, walk, walk, which is what I have been doing. I got home on a Sunday expecting to get a full nights sleep but my mind would not stop playing the whole ordeal over and over and over and over in my head, like some perverse version of "Groundhog Day". Hehehe. This left me tired and each day seemed to be a repeat. At the end of the week, my wife had a trip planned with her sister and niece to visit the University of Miami, who have offered my neice a scholarship to play soccer. This trip was planned far in advane of my little "adventure", so I told my wife to go. "I will be alright", I told her, and "if anything happens, Jake can take me to the hospital.
That night, I got up to go to the bathroom. Still unsteady, I made my way carefully to the toilet. Standing there sleepy eyed, I looked down to see that both of my big toes were a sickening drark blue/ purple color! I called out to Jake to take me to the emergency room.
We climbed in the car and set off. I was feeling ill. It got worse as we went. Hitting a redlight and seeing no cars coming, I told him to run it. We continued on with me feeling sicker by the minute. Finally, we arrived at the emergency room, went through the lengthy (it seemed) check-in and finally were placed in a room to wait. And wait. And wait. And while we are waiting, I am feeling sicker still, especially as I look down at my now bare blue toes (I took my shoes off as soon as we got to the room).
I am now convinced that they will have to amputate my toes or that I will simply die right there on the spot. Having heard that it is difficult to walk without big toes, I wonder how I will manage and how I will miss the toes I am so attached to (literally).
I am certain this is a result of blood clots from my heart issue. At long last the doctor appears and I tell him of my recent hospital stay and of my heart problem. He looks at my toes and looks very, very concerned.
Then, he noticed that my toes were the same color as my shoes! Grabbing a wet sanitary wipe, he begins rubbing and. . .the blue comes right off. Hehehe. I am relieved and embarrassed. But he informs me that, if I was throwing off blood clots, this is exactly what they might be expected to look like! We all have a good laugh with him saying that "this one is priceless". I guess he has a good story to tell on the golf course or in the doctors lounge.
The truely amazing part is just how quickly I started feeling better. One instant, I feel sick to my stomach, convinced I will die and just a few moments later I am on top of the world, breaking jokes while waiting to be discharged.
It's amazing what the mind can do. Hopefully, I have brought some good cheer to my fellow Kossacks today. :)