The second verse is the same as the first
My how things have changed in the last few weeks!
When I last left you, my beloved readers, I had been sprung from the hospital and a subsequent stay at Tuomey Hospital’s Acute Rehab Unit and I believed that I was headed back to my normal world, as well as my space here on this page.
Again, if you are not interested in my personal medical saga, I implore you to move on to some of the other stories in this paper … I can assure you they will be informative and entertaining.
Still here? Faboo … After just two early June days on high powered antibiotics, I woke to find myself being hurtled through the halls of Clarendon Memorial Hospital. “Where are we going?” I groggily asked. “To the ICU.” My next question of why went unanswered. A field trip, I wondered?
Apparently not. After being planted in Slot 5 and hooked to what seemed like a hundred different machines, I finally had my first ICU encounter with Dr. Kathy Thompson, the hospitalist at CMH and a woman I have come to know and respect, both for her character as well as her medical skills.
“Well, kid, your kidneys have shut down,” she told me.
Gulp. That is not something I really wanted to hear on a Wednesday morning.
In my best pragmatic voice I asked what was going to happen next.
The options were varied: they would try and “perk up” my failing kidneys, they could send me to a bigger hospital that had a renal specialist or I might be looking at dialysis.
Short of the perk up options, none of those other plans did a whole lot for my spirits. Those options, did however, have a brain-jolting, life-altering effect on my now screaming internal monologue.
Short story, the perk up option worked beautifully and said kidneys returned to normal function within hours. It was a perfect storm of a bit of dehydration, massive infection, high-powered antibiotics and poorly controlled diabetes.
Hmm … a couple of days in ICU gives one some time to think.
Choosing to work myself to death, not making time to rest and relax and most importantly, letting everything else in my world come before taking proper care of myself had all led to what could have easily become a crisis of near fatal proportions.
One question remained to be asked of myself … “How’s that working for you, Gilbert?”
The answer was simple … it wasn’t working at all. Failure to take care of myself has now, to date, separated me from my home, my mother, my cat, my work and my friends for nearly two months and I am not well yet.
However, I do have a new and improved outlook on life and what is important in it. I have made a commitment to myself to do and be better at managing my life and in that commitment have made new friends who I know will be of support to me and I to them. While I am not looking for an army of cheerleaders, I want everyone to know how much I have appreciated all the prayers and well-wishes. I have truly felt every one of them. Don’t stop now!
I hope to be back at my post at the Clarendon Citizenvery soon. This week we welcome a new addition to our editorial staff with Chuck Waters. I have only just met him, but I instantly got the feeling that he was one of us … both to the Citizenfamily and to the Clarendon community. I can’t wait for you to get to know him too.
In the meantime, y’all play nice out there.
