Greg Wenske

Survivor

It was the latter part of February 2016 when I woke up one morning being nauseated and having problems with my balance. My wife decided to take me to the emergi-care clinic. They put me on an IV and gave me pills for the nausea and sent me home. The next morning I woke up still nauseated but my right leg was beet red from my knee down. I was also falling down. My wife said we were going back to the emergi-care clinic. As I stepped off our back porch I stumbled and fell flat on my face. That is the last I remember until I woke up 10 days later in the hospital.

My wife said that when we got to the care center, they immediately put me in a ambulance and rushed me to the hospital. While in the emergency room later in the day they determined that I was in septic shock. The doctors had no idea how I got the disease. I had no infections or sickness. I was then put on life support for the next 10 days. While I was in a coma they seriously considered removing my leg to save my life. The doctors waited and watched it closely. At a point they told my wife to begin calling in my family and a funeral home, that I was circling the drain. At about then I was told that my 5-year-old great granddaughter came in to see her grand pa. She had with her a stuffed teddy bear that played the Lord’s prayer when she pressed the button. She asked if she could hold it to my ear so I could hear the prayer. She did and a few hours later my body stopped the spread of the infection and I slowly began to recover. A miracle? I like to think so.

Once I left life support, I was moved to a hospital room until I was transferred to a rehab center.

My body and mind had lost most all functions. I was like a baby that had to be taught all over again. I couldn’t sit up or stand. I had lost all my muscle strength. I had problems thinking. I couldn’t even hold a pencil. I had to be taught how to write. I also had to be taught how to go to the bathroom again. I had terrible nightmares every night. I rolled off my bed one night while I was having a nightmare and had to crawl to the door of my room to get the nurses’ attention to get them to lift me back into my bed. I had lost my appetite and ate very little for the next 3 weeks while I was in rehab. I lost about 40 lbs. in about 30 days. My skin hung from my body. I was ashamed to even look at myself in the mirror. I had to use a board to slide from my bed to a wheelchair and back to my bed again. Therapists began to teach me to stand up and walk a bit using a walker. It was very hard for me because I had lost most all my leg muscles and the pain I would suffer when I stood was almost unbearable.

After 3 weeks I was released from rehab and sent home. I was then visited in my home by nurses and therapists. They basically showed me how to use my home from a wheel chair and walkers. They also taught me exercises to help make me stronger. It has been 6 months and I am now 69 yrs. old and I am learning that recovery takes so much longer than when I was in my 20s. I am doing well from the waist up. I can use my computer and type. Below my waist I still have a lot of pain. I have finally graduated to just walking with a cane. I have finally managed to walk around my block several times. But I still have a long way to go. I am nursing a blood clot that formed in my right leg. I sure am hoping to get off the blood thinners soon.

I want everyone to know that I have the best wife and caregiver you could want. She has done everything for me. I would have never survived without her. Also my good friend, Chris, who is a retired hospital nurse that has dealt years with rehabilitating patients like me. She is the one that pushed me in my workouts and training to where I am now. I thank her so much.

This has been so devastating to my life. I am determined to get back to normal again.

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