Ezra returns...slowly but surely...

[Ezra Lb.]

Whew...boy howdy...where do I begin?

First I appreciate the expressions of concern for my "disappearence" from this here forum. Entirely unplanned I assure you. I can't go into too much detail here (I'm borrowing a PC connection) but sine abuot Thanksgiving I've been deep in he bowels of the American Health Care sysem.

Pneumonia (sp?), lung infection, heavy drugs etc etc.

I was laid up in intensive care tranked beyond belief for most of December. No Chrismas or New Year's for 2012 although I'm told they occured somewhere. January was a process of coming out of the haze and now I'm I'm in rehab learning to use my muscles again after being laid up so long.

But I am making progres and geting strongr an stronger. Hence this checkin.

I don't know how frequently I can post now but I am getting better for sure. I'm trying to get my email account reestablished soon.

Ever had your ass completely whipped? I have.

[diane bartels]

Ezra, so sorry to hear you were so ill. So glad you are on the mend. You were missed, and any post you are up to making here will be rejoiced over.
Diane

[Chuck Messer]

Glad to see you're not dead! It sounds like you came kind of close, though. I hope your recovery is thorough and quick. If that's possible. You know who first said something -- a month or two back? Frank. No shit. I was wondering myself, but Frank's the first one to pipe up.

Chuck

[Moderator]

Ezra: Glad you're back, but really sorry to read the details behind the absence.

You're in our thoughts.

[Steve Evil]

They can't keep a good man down. . .

[FrankChurch]

Chuck, ah, buddy, I'm a Christian, we love, we do not hate.

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Ezra, mend slowly, buddy, if you like it or not you are on my prayer list. Holy ghost power.

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Yea, the bugs are getting everyone. I get this mystery cough every year, for about three weeks straight I hack, chest full of fluid. Then, it just goes away, comes back next season.

[Chuck Messer]

Chuck, ah, buddy, I'm a Christian, we love, we do not hate.

I understand. I just think Ezra will be touched.

Chuck

[FrankChurch]

I was going to ask what atheist group paid his hospital bill?

[Steve Evil]

We don't ask about other people's medical bills in polite company.

(I'm sure it was niether the Catholic Church nor the Nation of Islam)

[Ezra Lb.]

Thanks for all the thoughts and best wishes and yes the prayers because I appreciate the good will behind them. Personally I am grateful to the well trained doctors and nurses whose skills and knowledge are based on science and the ability of the human mind to reason. Godlike for sure.

To answer your question Frank I am perfectly aware I occupy a privileged position in that through my job I have access to a regional HMO tht will take care of most of the expense. I shudder to think what a month in Intensive Care must have cost and wonder what someone not in my position would do.

Good news today! I found out my discharge date from rehab back to the real world is Feb 18th. Also I walked today unaided for the first time. It's amazing what we take for granted isn't it?

More to follow...

[FrankChurch]

The laying on of hands...works every time.

Get well there Ezra dear.

[paul]

Ezra, I'm very glad to hear you're up and about. Take care of yourself.

Yeah. Med bills. No insurance. I got hit with salmonella a year and a half ago, two ER visits, a days stay and subsequent 'scrip. Couple thousand and certainly not able to pay it off fast. Piecemeal at best. More to bitch about, but it's nice to be alive. Take care, bro.

[Duane]

Welcome back, Ez! That's what's lovely about our group here. Sometimes we go away for a bit, but then we come back to open arms.

[Ezra Lb.]

Hey hey hey I'm finally home and plugged in! Which means I can type and type and type at will until I bore the piss out of everyone! Hooray!

But here's the short version. I have what's called an esophageal achalasia which just means the muscle where my esophagus and my stomach join doesn't work right. I've had this problem most of my life and there are several treatments which have worked for the most part until in the last few months the traitorous sob just locked up tight. Well I was working my way towards the last resort, surgery, where they simply cut the muscle so the opening is permanently, well, open.

However before that operation could take place some of the backwash got into my lungs and I had pneumonia combined with a major lung infection that had to be drained by a tube, yuck. I was in intensive care for three weeks tranked to the gills because I had a tube in my lungs and couldn't move. The result was major weight loss. I've lost 60 count'em 60 pounds since Thanksgiving. I do not recommend this as a diet program however since it included muscle mass as well as body fat. When I got out of IC and went to the regular hospital (for another month) I was so weak I couldn't sit up. After a month in the regular hospital I had to go to rehab for another month to become a vertical human again. I went from sickbed to wheelchair to walker and now I have graduated to walking with a cane. I know it will be months before I'm anywhere near being myself again. I think I know what it must feel like to be an old man.

Now comes the surgery for the achalasia. I have an appointment on Monday to start that process going.

Some of you may be wondering how I'm eating now since my tubing is plugged up. Welll...I have a tube in my stomach and a nifty little Kangaroo Joey pump that feeds me a scrumptious nutritional goo twice a day. It's not as gross as it sounds and it will only be for a short while.

Barber, I take from some comments I read that your Beloved is having medical issues. I totally sympathize and wish her well.

[Moderator]

Ezra

Thank you for your thoughts, but compared to your own hurricane, hers is a light summer rain. (Cataract surgery, which is peach-dandy easy to do if, well, they remember to trank you heavily with sedatives. Not such a blast stone-cold sober. Not her happy place, as promised in pre-op.) I have passed on your wishes and was told to give you the same in return.

I am pleased to read you're past some pretty rough stuff. A good friend of ours has a similar condition to yours and it's a challenge in the best of times. I hope you can get back to a semblance of normalcy once this is all over. Welcome back, and keep us apprised.