I Almost Died Revisited … My Recovery in Dates & Photos … 5 Years On

Yes, another article all about me. I do seem to be doing a lot of navel-gazing recently, don’t I? Except this time, I’m really doing all this writing about me for you. I’m hoping that by sharing my long, drawn-out experience with a very serious health problem, I can prepare you for that potential eventuality.

I’m going to make what I think is an unsettling statement here. If you are currently in retirement or about to head into retirement at some point down the road, you are going to end up in the hospital. Not the most fun part of the ageing process, but when we get to a certain age, things start to fall apart, so it comes with the territory.

For a fortunate few, the visit to the hospital may simply proceed the final riding off into the sunset by a few days. At the other end of the continuum, others, like me, will experience a very serious health issue and spend an extended period of time in the hospital and recovery.

I do not believe that our bodies evolved to live as long as they currently do. That will probably change quickly because of access to healthy food, healthcare, and financial security; most Canadians have all our basic needs, and some of our heart or order needs fulfilled. Humans will evolve to start living longer and longer. But for now, as the saying goes, “it is what it is”.

It is my hope that by describing what happened to me in detail, it will prepare you for what might come your way down the road. There may be dark times and worrying diagnoses ahead, but I hope what I have to say will show you that it is possible to battle through just about anything, come out the other side and carry on with great quality of life.

My Story

Let me provide a little bit of background about what happened to me. In the summer of 2019, I developed a urinary tract infection. It was treated with antibiotics, ostensibly, the infection was eradicated, and I went about my business. Unfortunately, it seems that the infection was not totally eliminated even though the antibiotics were introduced intravenously. It reemerged in November.

In November, the Love-goddess and I and friends attended a fabulous music event in the Dominican Republic hosted by John Prine called the All the Best Festival. I won’t go into specifics, but it was one of the best musical experiences of my life… And I have had a ton of them.

After we landed at Pearson, I was feeling funky driving home from the airport. The next day, I was feeling terrible, but fortunately by the third day I got to see a doctor who diagnosed it simply as a bug I had picked up in the Dominican Republic. Later that same day, my condition progressed to the point where I knew I needed to get to the hospital.

So, on November 17, 2019, the Love-goddess drove me to the emergency at our local hospital. I remember checking in at the hospital… I think. But I have no recollection of what took place between that day and the first week in January when I woke, and the Love-goddess was explaining to me why my fingertips and all my toes were black and dead. Sepsis had taken hold of me and had me hovering on the edge of death for over five weeks.

Sepsis

An explanation as to what sepsis is would probably be instructional here. According to the World Health Organization:

“Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that happens when the body’s immune system has an extreme response to an infection, causing organ dysfunction. The body’s reaction causes damage to its own tissues and organs and it can lead to shock, multiple organ failure, and sometimes death, especially if not recognized early and treated promptly.”

 

“Sepsis is one of the most frequent causes of death worldwide.”

While I was searching for information about sepsis for this article, I was taken aback by the following claim that I read on WebMD:

“If you have septic shock, it can cause death as soon as 12 hours after you get it. There are different ranges for how long you can expect to live after surviving sepsis, but usually, more than half of all sepsis survivors lose their lives within five years.”

Wow! Given that as I write this, I am just two days shy of five years since I was diagnosed, I’ve got my fingers crossed that I make it to Tuesday. 🙂 I also found this “five-year” statement interesting because a while ago I decided that was the timeframe I would use to write about my recovery.

As part of the action to save my life, the doctor used vasopressor drugs to keep my blood pressure up. These can result in gangrene, which can result in amputation. This was what happened to my fingertips and toes.

I Wrote About This Before

On April 25, 2020, I posted an article about how I had dodged death, but really didn’t get into the details of it all. Basically, it was me saying I almost died, but I survived and spent most of the piece thanking the health professionals and my family and friends who stood by me through the dark days of the first few months. You can read the piece here.

 

Here We Go… a 5 Year Blow by Blow Reminiscence

November 11-15, 2019 – Having a fabulous time at John Prine’s beautiful event. Sadly, John would die the following April from COVID. I am assuming this was the late last major event he performed that.

November 16-17, 2019 – Text chats between myself and my friends concerning my illness. Click on the first image to view them in a larger, readable format.

November 17, 2019 – Later that night, off to the hospital.

November 20, 2019 – Totally sedated and intubated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This picture was taken illegally, of course, but I am thrilled that the “unnamed individual” who took the picture knew that I would want this recorded. When you heard in the news about how people with COVID were intubated in an ICU, this is exactly what it would have meant for them. Not nice.

November 18, 2019 -January 2, 2020 – I have no recollections at all of the time I spent in the ICU, but when I woke, I discovered that there was an email chain of over 100 people receiving updates about my health and that there was a litany of text messages that went back and forth between Carol, a.k.a. the Love-goddess, and friends Nick and Laurie.

I had never seen any of those communications, but in preparation for writing this piece, I decided that I needed to read the text messages to get a sense of what was going on during those six plus weeks that I spent in the ICU. So, this past week, I went through them all for the first time. The following carousel of text messages images might give you a bit of a sense about what was going on during that long, dark period. I selected the ones that conveyed most of the difficult situations that arose.

Captions are provided with each image to let you know what I thought about each of these “interesting “incidents.

Click on the first photo in the carousel to start the narrative, and to view the images all in a larger format.

To be continued….

 

Did I Get Emotional and Cry?

Let’s pause here for a second in the retelling to address a question or two that you may have been asking yourself as you read through this.

How did this guy stand up through all of this and how did he feel about reading all the text messages to see what was really going on while he was basically in an induced coma… did he cry?

I will have to tell you that I generally stood up pretty well throughout it all. Over the last few years, people who know me have occasionally mentioned that they thought that I had put in some sort of epic or heroic effort, dealing with the incident and my recovery from it.

I always say no, I don’t think so, but I would say that going through an experience like this, you really find out some things about yourself. And I would have to say that I was very pleased with what I found out about myself as I navigated my way through all the ups and downs.

However, what was truly epic and heroic was how the Love-goddess stood up through the whole ordeal. She was there by my side every day while I was in the ICU, talking to me, playing music for me, reading to me, and being a loving partner… and advocate. Before she became a university professor, she worked as a therapist at a large Canadian hospital. She knew that advocating for patients was critical, and she knew exactly who to talk to, what buttons to push, when to use the carrot, and when to use the stick. I am fairly certain that I did as well as I did because she was on the case 24-7. I have previously written about this amazing woman here if you would like to read a little bit more about her.

Because I was in la-la-land throughout the really bad bits, I came out of the ICU emotionally and psychologically relatively unscathed. The Love-goddess, on the other hand, could have emerged scarred by PTSD if she wasn’t such a strong person. I owe her a debt I probably will never be able to repay.

But did you get emotional and cry, Greg?

Yes, I did, but not over what I learned about what was happening to me and how close I came to death. I cried when I read the lengths to which the Love-goddess went to in support of me in my hour of need and also when I read about how my dear friends, Nick, and Laurie, were there by my side almost on a daily basis as well. And our other friends, Bob and Patty, who came whenever they could to spell off others and sit with me. And Walter, who came and read to me on Sundays in the rehab hospital. Thank you, my dear, dear friends. I will certainly be there for you if ever you need me, but I hope that you never have to go through anything as remotely horrendous as what I went through. I am so, so fortunate to have people like you in my life.

… getting back to the story.

 

January 13, 2020 – A feeding tube is installed because although I am conscious and talking, I am unable to eat or swallow food. At this point, my muscles had experienced total atrophy, and I was not even able to roll myself over on my side. To go on outings in the hospital, they would lift me out of the bed with a mechanical device and set me in a wheelchair so the Love-Goddess could push me around.

January 16ish, 2020 – I have been receiving some basic physiotherapy. On the day that I can stand on my own and support my own weight beside the bed, I know I will walk again. My journey to recovery has begun.

January 22ish, 2020 – I am transferred from the main hospital in town to the rehab hospital so that my physiotherapy can begin in earnest.

February 6, 2020 – I regained contact with the outside world. I use a stylus instead of a fingertip to operate my iPad. The dead black fingertips no longer serve that purpose. 🙂

February 17, 2020 – I have begun practicing walking with a tall walker and the support of the physiotherapist and the occupational therapist. My spirits are buoyed by the many wonderful friends who come to visit. Every day I get to be pushed around the hospital in my wheelchair by my visitors. The in-hospital Tim Hortons got a big workout during this period.

February 20ish, 2020 – A specialist determines that it is now safe for me to eat solid foods, and after being fed through a tube for three months, I get to eat real food… Well, what gets passed off as real food in the hospital. It is as bad as you’ve heard. 🙂

March 14, 2020 – Because I am able to walk a small amount with the use of a walker, and with help, I can get in and out of a car, I am allowed to go home for a weekend. I am overjoyed. My beloved has a busy weekend being my nurse, PSW, PT, OT, and cook.

Before I leave on the Friday afternoon, the occupational therapist reminds me that if I get home and find that it is just too much of a struggle after a couple of hours, I can come back immediately. I don’t say it out loud, but my first thought is “lady, there is no chance I am coming back here until the appointed 4:00 p.m. time on Sunday”. 🙂

I still have two tubes sticking out of my body: the feeding tube and the one you can see in the photo that is draining fluid from around my gallbladder.

March 16, 2020 – After a successful weekend at home, the occupational therapist says she is going to submit me for consideration to be sent home into the Rapid Recovery Program to complete my rehab there. I am over the moon.

Although I will receive daily support from nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, personal service workers, et al., a lot of the work will still fall to the Love-goddess because she is the one who will be there 24/7. Thankfully, she agrees to the plan.

March 18, 2020 – The area hospitals all go into COVID lockdown.

March 19, 2020 – I GO HOME! I am the only person in the entire country for whom being sent home into lockdown is a serious upgrade in their situation. 🙂

March 20, 2020 – The whole country is in lockdown. A myriad of health professionals start coming to the house to help me recover.

March 31, 2020 – I can go on walks from the back door to the front door unassisted. I still need occasional assistance to get in and out of chairs and to get in and out of bed. You can see how restricted my movements still were when I attempt to sit down in the wheelchair.

 

April 7, 2020 – Jon Prine dies of COVID-19. A very sad day for music lovers.

April 9, 2020 – My physiotherapist, Sheena, has laid out a number of upper and lower body exercise exercises for me to continue working on every day.

April 16, 2020 – Knee bends??? As you can see, my flexibility is still extremely limited at this point in the game. But incremental progress is being made.

 

April 9, 2025 – I begin doing short walks around the block. Henry, pictured with me here, was the neighbour who would often help me in and out of the car when needed. Sadly, he passed away last April.

April 9, 2020 – I have my first beer since 2019 during a Zoom call. 🙂 I am on the path to normality.

April 27, 2020 – A big day! I walk all the way up a flight of stairs.

 

May 20, 2020 – My first shopping outing… To Costco. Man, I loved riding around in that thing. I guess it would not be right if I did it now?

May 21, 2020 – A delightful care package arrives from friends Ken and Fiona in Australia.

May 22, 2020 – I returned to doing a little yard work… All while sitting on my walker. 🙂

June 1-5, 2020 – Had the gastric feeding tube and the JP bile drain removed. The JP drain removal was a pretty benign experience, but the G tube removal was awful and painful. I don’t think that little donut on the end of the tube is really meant to be taken out of such a tiny hole. 🙂

June 9, 2020 – My physiotherapy with Sheena continues. Along with the Love-goddess, she is the individual whom I credit with having the greatest impact on whipping me back into shape. My range of motion is much better now.

 

June 15, 2020 – I sent an email to the folks who helped me at the rehab hospital. It itemizes a list of what I can and cannot do as of this date. I can’t remember the exact date, but the morning I was able to get myself out of bed unassisted and go make myself a coffee was a magnificent victory for me.

June 19, 2020 – I had my first shower since 2019. It was all sponge baths up to that point. Notice the milk bags strapped onto my feet to keep them dry. They didn’t do the job. A former colleague provided me with a better solution, which you will see later.

July 5, 2020 – On Sunday, we headed over to a big parking lot, and I got behind the wheel to see if I could drive. Fortunately, it’s just like riding a bicycle. I drove home.

August 20, 2020 – I resumed cooking full-time.

September 14, 2020 – My first overnight getaway. We went down to Niagara on the Lake, stayed at the Oban Inn, and spent a couple of days sauntering around the town. I no longer needed the walker and could get by with just a cane. I am wearing a halter heart monitor to confirm that my a-fib has disappeared.

September 18, 2020 – My first surgery! The plastic surgeon removed the dead bits on my right hand. I managed to convince him to pull out his phone to take a picture of me and then email it to me. 🙂

October 1, 2020 – My second surgery. The left hand. I get a nurse to take the picture with my phone.

November 24, 2020 – My third surgery. The orthopedic surgeon removed all my dead toes. This is a bit of a turning point… other than the surgeon was severely annoyed with me the following week when he discovered I had been on my feet and moving furniture around in the basement. Apparently, that’s not good for healing feet. Oops!

December 16, 2020 – My feet have healed sufficiently, although they are still heavily bandaged. The surgeon says I can resume showering Note the lovely booties I am wearing. These are manufactured for people to slip over casts when they need to shower. They worked beautifully for me.

April 22, 2021 – Fast forward to 2021. For an extended period of time after my foot surgery, I would regularly visit with the orthopedic surgeon, and he would carve off dead skin, calluses, and scabbing from my healing feet. This is the least gruesome photo of my feet before they completely healed that I can share with you. The rest are quite disgusting.

August 12, 2021 – I go swimming for the first time… With my special booties and my socks on, of course. 🙂

October 1, 2021 – My first out-of-province getaway to Nova Scotia. We had to show our vaccine passports at a checkpoint on the highway to get into the Maritimes.

January 30, 2022 – We resume winter getaways to Spain, this year in Marbella. This is great because I don’t have to worry about walking around in snow and ice, and I get to put a lot of mileage on my surgically repaired feet over the winter months.

April 21, 2022 – I resumed playing golf full-time.

May 8, 2022 – I got COVID… And survived. 🙂

May 2, 2022 – My feet are mostly healed. A chiropodist now whittles off the little bit of junk that appears on the bottom of my feet. Aren’t you glad I didn’t post photos of my feet when they were dead in black and immediately after the surgery… seriously ugly.

July 2, 2022 – I went for my first bike ride since 2019.

July 8, 2022 – A return to live music. My musical pals and I attended the first Mariposa Folk Festival following its cancellation during the pandemic years. A special shout out to Dora and Tim from Illinois, whom we met in the Dominican Republic, for driving all the way up to the Great White North to join us.

September 8, 2023 – The first international trip since 2019, a visit to the homeland, Ireland.

October 31, 2024 – And finally, just last week, my feet looked as good as they’re ever going to look again. 🙂 Dare I say, my journey is over? For now, I suppose.

WHEW! That was a lot!

I seriously hope that you did not have as significant a health incident as I experienced, but you do need to be aware that in retirement there is a good chance that’s something will pop up. I hope that reading about my trials and tribulations will help you deal with whatever path you are led down.