As many of you have read in the Daily News, I was stricken with a life-threatening illness earlier this summer.
I was diagnosed with Legionnaire’s Disease, a relatively rare form of pneumonia, on May 31.
After sedating me and placing me on a ventilator to give my lungs a rest, I was taken to Joplin’s Freeman West Hospital and admitted to the intensive care unit.
My right lung, doctors have since told me, was nearly completely full of fluid.
After several days on the respirator, a couple of “scrapings” of the lung to remove fluid build-up, IVs and a couple of weeks worth of antibiotics, my lungs began to clear, and my oxygen levels were up to 90 percent.
Next came the fun part: physical and occupational therapy.
Physical therapy is just what the name implies: with a therapist as your “trainer,” you work on various muscle groups in order to regain function.
After ICU and the medical unit, I was debilitated, and couldn’t walk or sit up without being incredibly weak and dizzy.
Little by little, the therapists and I worked on that, starting with basically sitting up on the edge of the bed, then standing, then “crab shuffling” a few steps, then taking those six or eight steps to the bathroom with the aid of a walker, then building up to walking the halls.
Near the end of my hospital stay, I was walking more than 600 feet, using 20-pound ankle weights while doing a series of leg exercises, and climbing stairs.
After nearly six weeks in the hospital — including a week stint in ICU, a week and a half in Freeman West’s medical unit, and a three-week stay at Freeman East’s skilled nursing unit — I was declared fit enough to go home.
At home, home health visited me several times a week to check my progress, while a physical therapist came in to make sure I was continuing my exercise regimen.
Then the day came last Friday when I was told I could go back to work, albeit part time for at least the next couple of weeks. So far, about two hours a day is all I can do, but my doctor and home health provider assured me my endurance would improve over time.
There are so many stories I could tell you all, but space wouldn’t allow them all. Suffice to say I’m back to work, my blood sugar is back under control, I feel better than I have in years (although I tire a lot easier than I used to), and am looking forward to the future.
