Finally out of ICU

[Onpoint]

Tuesday at work was just like any other day. Didn't feel great but I'd definitely had days I felt worse. At around 1:30 pm I started up a trew where I had a young squirrel follow me all over the tree trying to chew on my safety lanyard. I took out my phone to snap a couple pics of him and he jumped onto my phone and then onto me. I played with him a little bit and went on about my work trimming the tree.
This was at 2:00 pm

By 4 o'clock that evening I was so sick It was unimaginable.  I couldn't see, couldn't focus on anything, gasping for air and not getting any. I'm the boss on my crew and always drive the work truck. I remember telling somebody else they was going to have to drive when it came time to go home. We got back to the parking lot and I didn't want to hold anybody up from getting home so I told th e guys I was fine. I tried to drive but seen I couldn't so I never even left the parking lot. I called my wife and she made the 1 hour drive in about 40 minutes and took me straight to the ER. They had to put me on oxygen shirtly after being there and then They admitted me with what they thought was pneumonia in both lungs. This was how my Tuesday went.

Wednesday
Woke up and still felt terrible. Didn't eat a bite. Just Laure around all day. My wife had to go to work so my mom came to be with me. She had to go to work and my dad showed up. For some reason my oxygen dropped off even while I was on oxygen and I couldn't breath at all. They done another scan and realized the infection had doubled in 16 hours. This was a good hospital and they said they had to transfer me to a hospital with a specialist. They said they would be taking me by amabulance. About 10 minutes later they say chsnge of plans that I needed to go by helicopter in order to get there in time. So by this point I'm scared to death. I really thought Wednesday was the last day i was going to be alive. I arrived at the hospital with the specialist where they put me in the ICU. I met the doctor and she told me she thought she could save me but I would more than likely end up on the ventilator before she got everything fought off.

Thursday
Things started turning around, still felt awful but they was able to take the oxygen mask off me and put the oxygen back in my nose.

Friday
Even more improvent.

Saturday
I feel a lot like my old self with the exception of being so weak I can't even get out of bed on my own. I'm even out of the ICU and in my own room. The doctor is going to try to get me to where I can go home Monday.

I' never go to the doctor. A couple months ago everybody on my family had an upper respitory infection. I just toughed my way through it with Alka seltzer. Evidently this lead to pneumonia in both lungs. Then she said I had chemical problems from all the high pressure gun blasters I use without proper ventilation. (I shoot my pistols at least 4 days a week and often more, break them down and clean after every time I shoot them). The specialist thinking is that added inflammation to the infection.

She said that the cat scan of my lungs was the worst that she's seen in years and still one of the worst ever. She can't understand how I made the progress I did. But once again the man upstairs has looked out for me again. This time has definitely been my closest call. There's been several times when I looked back and thought "I should be definitely be dead". This is the only time in my life I actually thought "I'm gonna die" it was a terrible feeling. Especially  being 29 years old.

This has finally give me the incentive to stop smoking. My mom said she is going to stop to.

My wife has been here with me the entire time. She left Wednesday to go to work and all that happened. She rushed back and haven't left my side since. I'm so fortunate to have such a great family to support me through this. I don't know if I could have done it without them. Just wanted to share.

Justin

[drenalinld]

Scary! Glad your getting better.

[hunter22]

Sounds like a close call Justin. Glad you are doing so much better. 

[DC1.]

Glad your better.

[merocustomcalls]

Glad to hear you're doing better! Here's some more incentive to quit smoking.....think about how much of that money goes to Uncle Sam.  I chewed for over 20 years but gave it up several years ago with that very thought in my head and I've never looked back.

[Crawdad]

Man, you sure had a rough time, so glad your doing better.

[chatterbox]

Holy crap Justin!

Glad you are ok, and are on the mend! Pneumonia is a very scary thing!

[Big Treble]

Glad your ok and out of the woods(figuratively)

[beagler]

Good to hear you are doing better.

[grayfox]

Sure glad you are doing better Justin.  My wife has also had pneumonia since Tuesday but is doing OK now.

[Spring Creek Calls]

Scary stuff, glad you're on the mend.

[Tail Feathers]

Too close for comfort!  Glad you're better and glad to see you took the positive from it.  Hang in there, you go through this you can quit smoking too!

[mgm1955]

Glad you're better!

[SS Calls]

Sure glad you're doing better Justin!!

[Houndstooth Game Calls]

Dang glad your ok Justin!