To our amazing Friends and Family. First and foremost, I have a very strong compulsion to as loudly and strongly as I can muster, laud and praise my adorable wife Purdy! This last week has been not only physically, but emotionally demanding on her and I will tell ya (even though she will frown at me for doing so), that there were moments when she was very close to her limits. My wife is the strongest part of myself and is the true force behind my continuing recovery. I’m pretty sure that it’s no secret that I love her deeply and dearly. The events of this last week serve to remind me of why I fell in love with her in the first place. My amazing wife is one of those rare folks that will give of themselves until there is nothing left and then will seek out and find deeply hidden pockets of inner strength to keep going and providing for others. On a couple of very rare moments she would allow her self just a moment to let one or two tears fall then take a deep breath, let out a sigh, and get back to taking on not only her share of our house hold needs but mine as well, all the while worried sick over my health. I actually fell ill one week ago tonight as I write this. Very simply, I thought I had contracted a cold. I was angry at myself as we had a long weekend from work and lots of opportunity for me to get some things done with the promise of good weather. When I arose the next day, I was coughing quite a bit with body aches and a head ache. Ok, must be the flu. I’ll spend a day or two relaxing, drinking juice, and eating chicken noodle soup then I’ll be good as new and still have time to get a little work done right? Wasn’t to be. The symptoms were getting worse and so my focus became getting better so that I could return to work on Monday with no trouble. Purdy picked up some Nyquil and cough drops for me and I confined myself to bed all day Saturday and Sunday. During this time I began to notice that after the coughing fits I was having a little trouble catching my breath. Of course, John Wayne was continuously whispering in my ear that I would be fine if I just toughed it out and made sure to rest and regain my strength before Monday. (Yeah, I’m one of those guys). Sunday night (very early Monday morning), I was not able to sleep as the coughing had become so bad and I realized that my breathing was very shallow when I was horizontal. Some how, having that mentality that I mentioned earlier, I’m still holding out hope that this is some how going to clear up enough that I might be able to report for work that afternoon. Through all of this I finely realized that I was running out of breath just moving from the bed to the bathroom. Ok, so I’m telling you all of this because Purdy (who is very often much wiser than I on these matters), had mentioned to me occasionally over the course of the weekend that I should go to the clinic and get checked. Unfortunately it was difficult for me to hear her with Mr. Wayne right there on my shoulder constantly saying that their gonna tell me I have a cold and to go home ad rest and then charge me five hundred bucks for the advise. Being the loving wife that Purdy is, she tolerated my stupidity and allowed me to follow my “I’m the man and I know what is best” course of action. She could see that not only was I not getting better, but in fact was deteriorating but she had the sense to know that forcing the subject would only increase my stubbornness. All the while she was thinking to herself that this could very possibly not end well. Ya know, kinda like watching a train wreck. Well anyway, long about 10 or so Monday morning Mr. Wayne finally disappeared. I was coughing and gasping, and Purdy was just giving me “the look”. I knew I was defeated and that all my hopes of miraculous improvement were gone. Reluctantly I called my supervisors answering machine at work and left a message that I was ill and would not be able to make it in today. Now mind you, at this point my breathing is so bad that as I listened to myself leaving the message, I sounded like a four or five year old who is talking while gasping for breath due to crying or having a fit. “I can’t (gasp) come (gasp) in (gasp) today because (gasp)”, well you get the idea. I hung up the phone and looked at Purdy all she said was “I’m driving”! I put on some jeans in between coughs and gasps and got in the car and Purdy drove me to the emergency room. I do think I heard her say under her breath along the way, “It’s about time”. We arrived there rather rapidly as it is only five blocks from our house and Purdy seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. I told the receptionist of my difficulty and was triaged and was impressed with myself for managing to not sound like the previously mentioned four year old. Purdy and I then settled in for the usual wait before we could see a Doctor. About three hours later a very nice E.R. nurse calls us back into a room and on the way I had to ask her to slow down because I couldn’t keep up. She noticed I was winded and look of concern came across her face and said we will go as slow as you need. When we arrived in the room, she promptly provided Purdy a place to sit, gathered two other nurses and they started getting me hooked up to the monitors with what seemed to me like a sense of urgency that I hadn’t anticipated. This was the first point when I began to feel like this might be just a tad bigger problem than what I had been thinking. I remember hearing things like “pulse ox too low” and “breathing too shallow”. Mr. Wayne was no where to be found at this point. Although Purdy is of course not hearing what is going on she is there in the room and can plainly see the nurse’s looks of concern and it’s also pretty easy to tell that they are very focused on their tasks. This was the first occasion I noticed my wife allow herself a moment to silently shed just a couple of tears. The picture that many of you saw of me in the E R was just before they pulled off my sweat shirt, put a gown on me, got me wired up to the monitors, and started me on oxygen. Ok, so from this point on the rest of (or at least the highlights of) the story are on face book and ya’ll pretty well know where it went from there. The story behind the story here or at least what I really wanted to bring out is what Purdy had been going through. She, of course stayed with me into the night even though she had very little sleep and had to work herself that night. I had x-rays taken and a C T Scan and received an initial diagnosis of pneumonia. I silently lipped the word so Purdy could see and again there was a short set of tears. I did my best to reassure her that all would be fine but I had the easy part being the patient and not having to observe a loved one go through this. We were told that I would have to be admitted to the hospital for a couple of days to receive treatment and observation. So I was moved to a regular patient room and settled in. Purdy only had a few minutes with me as it was now time for her to get ready for work. She didn’t want to leave but had to because otherwise they would have been too short at her work and really there would have been nothing for her to do at the hospital other than worry which she could easily do at work and get paid while doing it. Her work was only five minutes away from the hospital if there were any problems, and we gave the nurse Purdy’s text number. Again the next couple of days would be rough on her as she was looking after the house, her job, her hubby, and only taking a little time for herself now and then to catch her breath. This brings me to the next important message that needs to be expressed here. As Purdy and I were updating on events we received literally hundreds of sent prayers and words of encouragement for which I wish that I could somehow reach through face book and give each and everyone of you a big ole bear hug. I am so very thankful that Purdy and I have such and amazing group of friends and family from which we can draw support and encouragement. Not to take away one bit the support I received, but for the things that Purdy had to endure I am especially grateful for the support that was directed primarily at her. I think we can all agree that it is usually easier to be the patient rather than the partner who has to shoulder so much while worrying about a loved one. I am truly overwhelmed by the support we received and again wish I could thank each and every one of you in person! Our family, friends, workmates, and even friends of friends all played a part in this and I for one am convinced that it was your prayers and kind words and thoughts that got us through this trying time. This turned out to be a rather serious event that will have life long ramifications for us and going forward I will have to make some lifestyle changes that (while they will be better for me in the long run) I am not looking forward to. That, however, will be another story for another time. I have already gone on way too long with this so I will close with the fact that I can not ever thank you enough and that Purdy and I love you all! Thank you all again from the bottom of our hearts!
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 10:51:05 +0000
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