Momentum: It's Great to Have Big Mo on My Side
One awesome aspect of having a health related site, is that I get to exercise as part of my job. The downside is, I HAVE to exercise as a part of my job lol. I was so sick for so long, and had so many setbacks and restarts, that I welcome having such a problem.
This past week, I mailed out the Social Security form to officially begin transitioning off of disability. I've improved so much I cannot justify staying on it. Moreover, this was always my intended goal!
Firstly, I had diabetic gastroparesis go undiagnosed for several years. As a result, I kept losing more and more sleep, (5 hours, miraculous-average was 2-3) having more difficulty keeping meals down, all kinds of "plumbing" issues, and progressed into a spiral of increasing brain farts, brain fog, and total exhaustion. Consequently, I felt like I was trying to think through wet concrete. My job performance was terrible, my memory was shot, and I was fatigued to the point of passing out.
Additionally, between December 2017 and May of 2018, I had four hospitalizations, including two ICU stays. By Memorial Day, I was done. Unfortunately, I didn't have a firm diagnosis. Transplant medications were blamed for years for the symptoms. Some how, noone considered a diabetic of then of thity-five years could have classic diabetic gastroparesis. As a result, I couldn't go through my employer's disability policy. So I had to go through the SS process, including a court hearing. It was the fastest positive decision turnaround the disability lawyer had ever seen.
The gastroparesis was the elephant in the room. So much so, that it exacerbated existing ulcers (my theory) from long-term Prednisone use. Food just sits there for hours longer than normal. As a result, this allowing the soup of digestive juices and "stuff" to contact the stomach and upper intestines much longer than normal. Ever see the movie "Alien?" The crew tries to remove the critter from his face, snapping a leg off in the process. After that, acidic blood drips down from the leg to the floor, eating its way through. Then it proceeds to eat through the next floor, and so on. The bowels were so hard and distended, you just knew something wasn't going to end well.
With that in mind, fast forward to late February of this year. I developed a life threatening GI bleed. It was diagnosed as ichemia of the transverse colon. As a matter of fact, it wasn't. ulcerations of the TVC were so complete that I guess it looked like a blood flow issue. To be fair, it was an emergency situation, where speed of action counted. I just wish that they had take further evaluation steps to look around more and get a better picture. I healed somewhat for a month, then started going back down hill. Good Friday evening, I was snapped out of a cold sleep by the sensation of either getting stabbed, or shot. 11/10 pain, easy. My colon had ruptured in another spot. Basically blew out. Even so, it took one more look by the colorectal surgical team to see just how far the ulcerations had progressed. I ended up with two bowel resections, an ileostomy placement, and had the ulcers removed.
Above all, my goal from day 1 of being nocked out of work, was to get back to work. I was so physically miserable and exhausted, I turned to the Outdoor Channel for some positive distraction. Initially was looking for fishing shows, but later grew to enjoy the cullinary-specific hunting programs. Then I gained an appreciation for how much more difficult hunting was than I thought. I'd never tried. Nor had I ever tried big game fishing. I made up my mind I was going to force myself to get exercise to help the gastro, and started chronicalling the process. Thus, my site concept was born: using the outdoors as a vehicle for recovery and self actualization.
My affiliate site has not yet been monetized, but it's not far off. It's getting close. Some more polishing needs to be done and additional pages set up. I'll get it done. Additionally, I've had a partnership opportunity develop with a friend of mine made through a golf store, before the GI apocalypse began.
I meet with the colorectal surgery guru tomorrow morning. Hopefully we'll schedule a date to have this damn ileostomy reversed. Fingers crossed for some time in December, so I've got some kind of fall hunting and fishing season. Also, it'll give me more time to get into shape and prepare for the surgery. The better shape you're in before, the better shape you'll be in coming out.
Finally, after this marathon read, you get the idea of how much positive momentum is on my side. Above all else, I KNOW, not think, that I have the mental strength to handle any setbacks that pop up, In conclusion, I'm resiliant, if nothing else.
Good luck everyone!
-Derek R. Benoit
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I don't blame you! Now that I have real energy, the amount of things I can accomplish has gone through the roof. It's really refreshing!
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Wow Derek for having such a wonderful positive mindset despite your challenges you are certainly a winner in my book. Looking forward to hearing about the success to come on your site.
Thank you sir! Much appreciated! I took inspiration from one of my now friends, who documented her own survival story on FB. She was kind enough to share it with me!
Very sensitive use of the story.