This place is the home I'd forgotten about. I hope many of my beloved forumers are still here.
Back in early February, I got COVID. And boy, did I get COVID. I went to urgent care with a temperature of 102. After testing positive, they stuck a pulse oximeter on my finger and my O2 was 81%. The nurse practitioner stressed that I needed to go to the hospital - she even offered to call me an ambulance. Not wanting the bill, I declined. I checked into the hospital about an hour later, and they settled me down into a nice, cozy room.
Then I fell asleep.
I remember pitch black with sensory and auditory hallucinations. I can't describe what happened. I felt confined and restricted. I remember yelling - whether out loud or in my mind, I don't know. I must have thought I was in hell. I slowly came to and was informed I had been moved to the ICU. I had untreated sleep apnea, and, as a result, my blood oxygen dropped to 70% while I was asleep. They put me on a bipap, and the doctor came in to tell me that if there were no improvements, I might have to be intubated. This is when reality set in; I knew the odds of coming out of intubation.
Fortunately (and miraculously), I improved. I was released a week later, and that's when I began to change my life.
Something that y'all need to know about me to get the full impact of this story is that over the past few years I have really let myself go. I made a lot of money in a job that requires near zero movement. I could afford food - lots of it, and I was completely sedentary. When I was in the hospital I weighed 460 pounds, had untreated sleep apnea, untreated high blood pressure, and shortly after I was released, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. How the FUCK did I survive? My flirtations with agnosticism have waned a bit since then.
Fast forward to today. I have a CPAP, my blood pressure is controlled (albeit with medication), I've made some major dietary changes, and reversed my diabetes. I used to doordash two or three times a day and drank two Monsters a day. Now, I only drink water, and I have two meal replacement shakes every day. I currently weigh 385. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I'm in a much better place. I can get out of chairs without feeling like my knees will explode. I can stand up for more than three minutes. I can walk around and do my own grocery shopping. Life has improved immensely, and I'm thankful for my second chance every day.
Then:
Now:
Bonus picture from last Tuesday:
Topic: Hello, everyone. I have a story for you. (Read 2723 times)