Wanted to say THANK YOU & tell what happened

colobbfan

colobbfan

Joined
May 31, 2000
Messages
651
I want to take this opportunity to sincerely THANK ALL of you at BF and to let you know what took place!!

I had had three or four bouts of pneumonia since the first of the year.
On March 12th I was feeling extra bad and my wife, Heidi called an ambulance for
me. That was the last thing I remember until I woke up 4 & 1/2 weeks later!!

My oxygen level was down to almost brain damage and death. And I
flat lined / crashed on the way to the hospital. A respiratory specialist decided it
best to induce a coma so that my muscles and brain didn't use any oxygen
my body couldn't spare to survive. I kept blowing out IV's and generally
was in big trouble. They finally got me stabilized but I was in the coma
for 4 1/2 weeks in ICU. Pretty much all my body shut down including my
digestive system so they weren't able to give any nutrition. When I came to, I couldn't talk because of a tracheotomy to insert a respirator. All my
muscles atrophied and I looked like a concentration camp survivor! I lost 70 pounds and was for all intents a quadriplegic. They figured it would take six months in a rehab hospital to recover. I was released after three & 1/2 weeks!
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I worked really hard! I just didn't want to lay there, go crazy or die!
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I can't begin to describe the total feeling of hopelessness of not having enough strength to do anything but bend my wrists and not being able to communicate.

I still have a long time doing out-patient rehab. Relearning how to use muscles. Probably 6 months to a year. I'm still pretty weak, but I can walk, sit up, etc with major effort and some pain. One really scary thing is a loss of short term memory. I used to be able to kick butt on most subjects on Jeopardy, give complete "family tree" type info on Rock bands. Military History, automobile stats, spout statistics on Spyderco knives and a lot of other brands. I fumble to find the "right" word or phrase. And that's REALLY frustrating!!!

I look at it as a chance to rethink lifestyle and what's actually important in life.
I wanted to thank all of you at BF! I can't begin to express how much the prayers, good wishes, cards, and emails have meant!
Take care
John

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A day without Spydies is like a day without ... WELL, Spydies!!!
 
John,

A big welcome back.

Best wishes for a fast and complete recovery. BTW, March and April were pretty dull, I don't think you missed much.
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N2S
 
LOL
I'm going to try the line "I was in a coma!" with the IRS next week! We'll see what happens.
John
colobbfan
 
Glad you're doing well.
Glad you're back.
Been praying for you.
I hope you continue to recover quickly,
Owen
 
welcome back,john.
we were worried about you for a while there.good to see you back.
 
Amazing story. Glad to hear you are doing well. Considering the fact that you didn't give proper notice to the IRS about your coma, you will probably be imprisoned for the next 10 years. See ya when you get out
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!
 
That's an amazing/frightening story. I wasn't here in time to hear about it or you would have surely had my support.

Maybe some help. As far as I know you can excersize your memory, I've been doing this for a while because I had pretty bad short term memory as well. Two things I do: 1) I'm learning a new language. The continual memorization of new vocabulary and grammatical rules seems to help. But the consistent attempts at memorization of anything would probably do the same trick. 2) Play chess. The picturing of moves in my head and the concentration has helped me more than anything.

I don't know if you can recover if it's some sort of minor brain damage, but you should probably be able to do it.

Good luck with your recovery!
 
Nice to hear from you, John. You survived the worst. From now on, it can only get better.

Stick around. There's a lot of fun here.


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Make Love your strongest weapon. Compassion your shield and forgiveness your armour.
 
What a great way to start the morning!
Glad to have you back!
Gus

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" The real art of living is to keep alive the longing in human beings to become greater versions of themselves." Laurens Van der Post in memory of James Mattis
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by colobbfan:
I want to take this opportunity to sincerely THANK ALL of you at BF and to let you know what took place!!

I still have a long time doing out-patient rehab. Relearning how to use muscles. Probably 6 months to a year. I'm still pretty weak, but I can walk, sit up, etc with major effort and some pain. One really scary thing is a loss of short term memory. I used to be able to kick butt on most subjects on Jeopardy, give complete "family tree" type info on Rock bands. Military History, automobile stats, spout statistics on Spyderco knives and a lot of other brands. I fumble to find the "right" word or phrase. And that's REALLY frustrating!!!

I look at it as a chance to rethink lifestyle and what's actually important in life.
I wanted to thank all of you at BF! I can't begin to express how much the prayers, good wishes, cards, and emails have meant!
Take care
John
</font>
Click to expand...

John: I understand about the memory problems, most people, as they grow older, have these memory lapses. I am not even seventy and my mother who will be 90 next Feb retains her vocabulary better than I. It is hard for some one who spent a lifetime with a huge store of words to have to stop and rack his mind to find the word that always before was right there. You have to count your blessings and work hard to recover what you can. all the best, A. G.
 
Very scarey story, John, but it looks like you are already well on the road to recovery.

Best wishes.

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Dick
 
Scary indeed, I hope you recover fully and soon. I've been through a dear death experience, and it is very true what they say, "that which doesnot kill you makes you stronger."

Take good care of yourself John. You're an inspiration.
 
Congrats John! I hope you continue for years! Great work to get back so soon.
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One question though, BF couldn't have been your only reason for fighting back, care to list any other reasons?

I wish you all the best,

Steve-O
 
Hi Steve-O
Well let's see... did I mention...
My three year old son, Ben, who absolutely needs me to chase him around and tell him stupid jokes and sing to him off key and high five him when the Avalanche and Broncos score!
And my wife Heidi, who stayed with me virtually 24 hours a day AND kept Ben's world "normal" seeing that he got up, ate meals, went to school, came home bathed and went to bed at normal times and gave Ben LOTS of attention. And brought him to see me once I was conscious and didn't have a bunch of scary tubes coming out of me.
My family, who don't always get along well, coming together and helping Heidi & Ben (in their own way, anyway)
And family friends who stayed here at the house and took care of Ben & gave Heidi a hand.
And the staff at Lutheran Medical Center & Mediplex who provided encouragement to Heidi and me when I awoke.
And, oh yea, my higher power.
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who kicked me in the butt everytime I wanted to give up!!
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John
 
John,
Judging by the quality of these posts, I'd say your mind is making a tremendous recovery. No doubt the rest of the body will be following along shortly.

Best of luck to you, and welcome back.
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Semper Fi

-Bill
 
John,

I am glad that all is well and will be getting better. You are one hell of a trooper. I wish you a speedy recovery.

------------------
Louis Buccellato
http://www.themartialway.com
Knives, Weapons and equipment. Best prices anywhere.
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"only the paranoid will survive"
 
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