It can go bad -fast!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Queen Creek, AZ.
Posts: 54
It can go bad -fast!
Hello,
I am a new member to SR in the last 2 days. I have spent hours on end reading about you all and have posted a few times. I wish I new about SR in 2004. I can tell this is a special place for a lot of people and I think it is great.
My fight with alcohol is a terrible story and after all I have been through it is still trying to get me to bite - even this weekend was a challenge, twice, but I won.
Everyone wants to tell their story and I am no different. If you are interested read on. It literally could be a novel but I will try to be brief.
In 2004 at an age of 38 I was feeling ill and went to the Dr. He did blood tests and called me back asap. He was shocked at my numbers and said I was near the end if I don't stop drinking. I did.
A couple weeks later I was feeling terrible and I started to turn yellow(jaundice) and one of my testis swole up the size of a baseball. I went to my daughters' rodeo with ice pack in hand and watched from the truck.
On the way back home I was so bad that my wife (at the time) said it was time to go to the ER. Start the nightmare. That night they told me I had end stage liver disease and would be surprised if I lived another 10 days. Yes, 10 days, I felt fine and strong 3 weeaks ago, WTF.
I am teering up right now, this is the first time I have told my story to strangers.
I was in and out of the hospital for about 6 weeks and things were looking grim. Several rush trips to the ER. While waiting to see a doctor on one of the visits I felt nautious and went to the restroom to throw up. Blood came dripping from my nose and that was it - full on bleed out. They gave me a trache w/transfusions and I barely made it through the night.
For the next two weeks I stayed in Phoenix, most of the time I was in a coma. Come to find out I was in ICU on morphine waiting to die. They could do nothing for me.
My parents refused to accept this and in desperation flew me to Florida on a small medical jet with two nurses. They basically said here is our son - don't let him die!
I went from 250 pounds to 127 very quickly and had so many machines attached to me my Mom couldn't even touch me.
By the grace of god a donor liver that matched was received in 9 days. They said I was so far gone that I only had a 5% chance of surviving the transplant.
Well, I did.
I was in ICU for the next 3 months. I had a serious siezure, blood fungus, drop foot (neuropathy) and many more complications. I had to learn to walk again, talk again, eat again, etc. I'm trying my best to give the Cliff's notes
version.
I was released and went home and it took 10 months to recover to the point that I could be alone and function. I was glad to see the "walker" go into the garage.
When my liver failed my kidney's took a hit and I currently am at Stage Four kidney disease.
That's not all. In the first year that I felt good, my wife left me, I lost my career, I lost my house and spent 10 more days in the hospital with a serious DVT(deep vein thrombosis).
For those of you that actually read all this I want you to know that it can turn bad very quickly and with not much warning.
Yes I still struggle with this even after all that I went through and all that I have been blessed with. I did stumble a couple times after the divorce and being fired but in the last couple years I am doing pretty damn good. I will hopefully live to see my daughters marry and have children for me to be a grandpa to.
Thank you for reading this and I hope that I can post some helpful advice/motivation in the future for those who are trying to better themselves.
I am a new member to SR in the last 2 days. I have spent hours on end reading about you all and have posted a few times. I wish I new about SR in 2004. I can tell this is a special place for a lot of people and I think it is great.
My fight with alcohol is a terrible story and after all I have been through it is still trying to get me to bite - even this weekend was a challenge, twice, but I won.
Everyone wants to tell their story and I am no different. If you are interested read on. It literally could be a novel but I will try to be brief.
In 2004 at an age of 38 I was feeling ill and went to the Dr. He did blood tests and called me back asap. He was shocked at my numbers and said I was near the end if I don't stop drinking. I did.
A couple weeks later I was feeling terrible and I started to turn yellow(jaundice) and one of my testis swole up the size of a baseball. I went to my daughters' rodeo with ice pack in hand and watched from the truck.
On the way back home I was so bad that my wife (at the time) said it was time to go to the ER. Start the nightmare. That night they told me I had end stage liver disease and would be surprised if I lived another 10 days. Yes, 10 days, I felt fine and strong 3 weeaks ago, WTF.
I am teering up right now, this is the first time I have told my story to strangers.
I was in and out of the hospital for about 6 weeks and things were looking grim. Several rush trips to the ER. While waiting to see a doctor on one of the visits I felt nautious and went to the restroom to throw up. Blood came dripping from my nose and that was it - full on bleed out. They gave me a trache w/transfusions and I barely made it through the night.
For the next two weeks I stayed in Phoenix, most of the time I was in a coma. Come to find out I was in ICU on morphine waiting to die. They could do nothing for me.
My parents refused to accept this and in desperation flew me to Florida on a small medical jet with two nurses. They basically said here is our son - don't let him die!
I went from 250 pounds to 127 very quickly and had so many machines attached to me my Mom couldn't even touch me.
By the grace of god a donor liver that matched was received in 9 days. They said I was so far gone that I only had a 5% chance of surviving the transplant.
Well, I did.
I was in ICU for the next 3 months. I had a serious siezure, blood fungus, drop foot (neuropathy) and many more complications. I had to learn to walk again, talk again, eat again, etc. I'm trying my best to give the Cliff's notes
version.
I was released and went home and it took 10 months to recover to the point that I could be alone and function. I was glad to see the "walker" go into the garage.
When my liver failed my kidney's took a hit and I currently am at Stage Four kidney disease.
That's not all. In the first year that I felt good, my wife left me, I lost my career, I lost my house and spent 10 more days in the hospital with a serious DVT(deep vein thrombosis).
For those of you that actually read all this I want you to know that it can turn bad very quickly and with not much warning.
Yes I still struggle with this even after all that I went through and all that I have been blessed with. I did stumble a couple times after the divorce and being fired but in the last couple years I am doing pretty damn good. I will hopefully live to see my daughters marry and have children for me to be a grandpa to.
Thank you for reading this and I hope that I can post some helpful advice/motivation in the future for those who are trying to better themselves.
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Nelson, British Columbia
Posts: 20
Thank you for telling your story and I bet you're glad to be here to be able to tell it.
Alcohol addiction had pretty much taken everything from my life too, until it was the only thing left that I could get rid of, and as they say everyone reaches their bottom.
I watched my partner's father DT himself off the planet in an ICU, and went to my brother's brother in law's funeral because he literally drank himself to death too.
So I'm guessing that each day for you is a blessing and you've got to figure that there is a reason why you had to go through what you did. One of the reasons I guess is, that you were still meant to help people who can hear your story and take something from it. And the reason of course is that life is worth living and maybe, if it's meant to be, to be the best dang grandpa that ever walked the earth. :-)
So thanks again.
Alcohol addiction had pretty much taken everything from my life too, until it was the only thing left that I could get rid of, and as they say everyone reaches their bottom.
I watched my partner's father DT himself off the planet in an ICU, and went to my brother's brother in law's funeral because he literally drank himself to death too.
So I'm guessing that each day for you is a blessing and you've got to figure that there is a reason why you had to go through what you did. One of the reasons I guess is, that you were still meant to help people who can hear your story and take something from it. And the reason of course is that life is worth living and maybe, if it's meant to be, to be the best dang grandpa that ever walked the earth. :-)
So thanks again.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 174
That's powerful stuff..
It really is sad what we can do to ourselves, but you made it through the war and you're here today. And that makes me happy! People like you are an inspiration to the rest of us, so keep it up!
It really is sad what we can do to ourselves, but you made it through the war and you're here today. And that makes me happy! People like you are an inspiration to the rest of us, so keep it up!
Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 4,682
Thanks for sharing:-)
The thing that sticks out to me the most is that you mentioned you stumbled a few times...so after all that you still drank...that's an important message IMO for anyone who is maybe thinking that joining a gym and getting on a good diet is going to cure their alcoholism...
I've always said that there is no consequence severe enough that will stop an alcoholic from drinking long term and ive seen it...heart attacks, strokes, children into care etcetc...amazing isn't it!
The thing that sticks out to me the most is that you mentioned you stumbled a few times...so after all that you still drank...that's an important message IMO for anyone who is maybe thinking that joining a gym and getting on a good diet is going to cure their alcoholism...
I've always said that there is no consequence severe enough that will stop an alcoholic from drinking long term and ive seen it...heart attacks, strokes, children into care etcetc...amazing isn't it!
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: East Coast
Posts: 1,906
Schem9,
wow....your story scared the crap outta me. i really thought (and still do )that i was a bottom barrell drunk..... and then i meet someone who took it one more step.
i hope i never go where you have.
i'm glad you're here, and i'm glad your alive. welcome. thanks for sharing your story. i think i'm gonna go get some air. that really shook me up.
wow....your story scared the crap outta me. i really thought (and still do )that i was a bottom barrell drunk..... and then i meet someone who took it one more step.
i hope i never go where you have.
i'm glad you're here, and i'm glad your alive. welcome. thanks for sharing your story. i think i'm gonna go get some air. that really shook me up.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Queen Creek, AZ.
Posts: 54
Thank you for all of your support/replies. The bad thing is that after telling my story that night I had a bad panic attack. That tells me that I need to maybe see a professional and talk about this more. I had major feelings of being vulnerable, scared and shame. It was like this huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. The only people that knew my past were family and close friends. Now it is on the internet for all to read. Oh well, What's done is done.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Queen Creek, AZ.
Posts: 54
Well my friend it can happen. Does anyone ever take a drink and your body almost immediately wants to get rid of it? Does your right side hurt when you start drinking but goes away after a couple drinks? Me and my brothers use to laugh and call it "liver ache".
Hey 
on story. Same ENEMY, different battle grounds. 
Psalm 118:24
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: ILLINOIS
Posts: 15,203
Originally Posted by schem9 
I had major feelings of being vulnerable, scared and shame. It was like this huge weight was lifted from my shoulders.
The real shame is not seeking help
thanks for sharing!
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