Last December, maybe earlier, according to one of my friends, I started getting ill. I pretty much brushed it off as it being the cold/ flu season & general malaise. No big deal. I was also playing w/ my insulin dosages (BAD IDEA!!). I wasn't eating very much because I really wasn't all that hungry. I was probably consuming 600 calories per day, at most. Anyways, as the months progressed, my close friend in Kentucky kept bugging me to go to the Doctor. I kept blowing her off and told her, "oh, it's just a cold, it'll pass" or later on, "it's just a flu bug, it'll pass". I kept getting weaker & weaker. She kept on me, almost every day, all through February. She noticed my decline. Finally, after the first week of March, she called me one day and I was incoherent. She wound up calling the police department here in Texas and got an ambulance dispatched to my house. I don't remember ANY of this, as I had slipped into a coma.
Ultimately, I woke up in the hospital in some part of the ICU. I was still somewhat incoherent for several days. I was slipping in & out of this coma, having hallucinations, weird dreams, etc. At one point, I thought that I was in some hospital in Oklahoma!! My friend in Kentucky, Linda, got in touch with my ex wife so she could inform my daughter what was going on. My daughter & my Ex came down from MN. Anyways, I come to find out that I had pneumonia, a massive kidney infection with two huge abscesses on my right kidney, and had gone into diabetic ketoacidosis. There was talk about removing my right kidney because it was only working at 25%. I was in the first hospital for about two weeks, on heavy duty antibiotics and in a bed that was sheer torture!!! They finally got me stabilized and I was showing improvement.
I was transferred to a different hospital. I had IV antibiotics pumped into me four times per day. They also were giving artificial marijuana in an effort to get me eating more, along with some really good pain meds because I had also developed a pressure sore at my tailbone, apparently because of too much sitting, mainly at the computer, and the massive amount of weight I had lost depleted my fat stores on my butt. They installed a drain into one of the abscesses on my right kidney. Immediately, 200 CC of infection drained. Over the next few days, another 150-200 CCs of infection drained, until I pulled the drain loose. I continued to progress pretty well and was released Apr 22nd to go home. YAY!!!
Since I've been home, I've drained another 500CCs of infection and have continued to get stronger. I am STILL on antibiotics. The infection is STILL draining!!

My strength is returning. I am also undergoing physical therapy. All in all, things are going pretty well, now. I still have the pressure wound and it's being treated on a daily basis. I am stuck in a wheelchair, for the most part, but I'm working to get out of that. I'm trying to eat at least 1200 calories per day, but it's really hard. I am determined to get better and I now know that God has some plan set for me that I have yet to accomplish. I also seem to have developed a better, more positive outlook on life.