The past four weeks have been the most challenging in my lifetime. After a car accident March 27th, I decided to move forward with spine surgery. My herniated disc was an old injury made worse by the accident as well as numerous other new injuries. Lot’s of Physical Therapy (PT) and chiropractic treatments helped me heal from severe whiplash and a minor concussion. The chronic sciatic pain became unbearable. So I received a lumbar discectomy on June 20, 2024. This involved removing part of my vertebrae (bone) to access/remove part of my degenerated disc and its fragments that have been rubbing/deteriorating the nerve bundle in my spinal canal. The surgery was very successful!
About a week later I started ignoring symptoms of nausea and lack of appetite. Even though I only took the prescribed pain meds for two and a half days post-surgery, I thought the upset stomach was caused by detoxing the heavy duty pain meds and anesthesia that was administered in the hospital. It was an outpatient procedure so I went home immediately after the operation. I felt so good I went for a walk around my block that night. A week and half later, I started experiencing agonizing stomach pain, chest pain, stomach bloating and dizziness. It was so excruciating I couldn’t stand up straight, eat anything or walk for 3 days. I thought there might be an infection from the surgery, but after calling my surgeon and hearing that these symptoms would only be present shortly there after if that was the case. So I still didn’t want to go to the Emergency Room (ER) because I had just paid for a very expensive surgery (my health insurance has a $6300 deductible and even after that exorbitant amount is met, I am still responsible for 40% of all fees) and figured, most likely, nothing would be discovered after hours of waiting and numerous tests. Then I started violently vomiting, had a 102 degree fever, chills with uncontrollable shaking and so much pain I could barely stay conscious.
I arrived at the ER around 3:15 PM, I didn’t see a doctor until about 3 hours later, by then my heart rate was through the roof and I was burning up so badly, they put me in a bed and doped me up with morphine and antibiotics still not knowing what the problem was because an ultrasound revealed nothing was wrong. I had a CT scan of my stomach but the results took 6 hours to deliver. By then it was 2:15 AM, the nicest male nurse and doctor confirmed it was appendicitis. I was absolutely shocked! They had to admit me in the hospital but that didn’t happen until 6:30 AM after going through my entire medical history and listing all medications. There were endless questions so I got zero sleep the night before my emergency appendectomy took place around 11 am on July 4th of all days.
My sucky surgeon didn’t even bother to stick around after I woke up and there was nobody available to tell me exactly what happened due to it being a major holiday. None of the nurses would tell me the results and I had so many questions with no help in sight. The next day I got a phone call from the surgeon who was very curt with zero empathy for me and my concerns. That’s when I found out my appendix had burst and the tissue was dead! I used my own chronological events, since the surgeon could’t tell me when or how bad the rupture was, to figure out that it must’ve burst on Monday when I started having severe stomach pains that woke me up at 4 AM but I was experiencing lots of discomfort before going to bed that evening. Since I survived three days before getting my perforated and decomposing appendix removed, my whole body was infected and I was septic which means the infection got into my bloodstream.
Looking back on this life-threatening condition and now knowing I almost died, that was not what traumatized me, it was the horrific experiences I was a forced to endure in that prison-like hospital! The night after I got out of surgery they gave me a cup of bone broth and the next morning I was limited to a liquid breakfast, again bone broth and some cream of wheat, but I was feeling pretty good considering I didn’t sleep much due to the pain. Then the Physician’s Assistant (PA) came to my room that next morning and caused more extreme pain by tightening the suction on my drain that was already severely uncomfortable. I was crying, begging and pleading for her to reverse those actions, but of course no one would listen. So she told the nurse to give me more pain meds even though they had just given me a very strong dose 2 hours prior, resulting in so much nausea I and dizziness I could’t get out of bed that entire day. It also meant the PA restricted me from any/all liquid foods and no water. I still hadn’t slept a wink and they were starving me to death. I was so confused (and heavily medicated) because as a professional bodybuilder, I know for a fact the two main recovery components are food and sleep and I hadn’t received any in the past 48 hours I was in the hospital. That third night I finally thought I would get some deep sleep, but nope, the same things that took place every night prior prevented me from any solid rest once again. The nurses came barging in every 2-3 hours to administer more pain meds or antibiotics, other nurses woke me up just to check vitals, and the worst was at 5 am when a nurse turned on all the florescent lights to draw blood. I was infuriated! Out of the 3 nights/days I spent in that prison of a hospital I only received 8 hours of sleep with a total of 3 liquid meals.
Now my mental health was completely deteriorating because of the panic caused by them waking me up all hours of the night. And it wasn’t just them, the IV machine that I was hooked up to 24/7 would randomly alarm day or night for no reason. My anxiety started taking over. It’s one thing to take away my liquid foods due to nausea but to deprive me of sleep after I repeatedly asked them to not bother me was getting on my nerves. That’s when I realized the hospital didn’t want me to heal. They weren’t trying to help me get better, they were purposely keeping me ill! The sicker I was, the longer I would have to stay in the hospital and pay their ridiculous fees out of pocket! That’s how our medical system works unfortunately it’s nothing more than a business. I went to the ER on a Wednesday afternoon and I demanded they discharge me Saturday. As soon as my bloodwork and vitals were good, I fought for my life to break out of that prison. I pissed off a lot of doctors, nurses and a different surgeon who was going to rip out my drain after only 1 day when my own surgeon told me to keep it in for a week. Boy was his ego hurt when I told him NO WAY. The PA removed my drain a week later and the 3 incisions are finally healing up but still sore. As I write this, today marks exactly 2 weeks post appendectomy and 4 weeks post-op spine surgery.
The lumbar discectomy takes longer to heal for obvious reasons. I can’t bend, lift, twist or drive for at least 6 weeks after. Unable to get out of that hospital bed for 3 days was a huge setback for my recovery. I was very limited due to critical pain and restricted to a 5 foot radius between my hospital bed and the bathroom. That IV machine was constantly plugged in and since I could’t bend down to unplug it, and the nurses wouldn’t allow it, I was stuck there with no movement which caused more pain and tightness in my back. And not being able to eat any solid foods for a week and a half did not help my spine heal. I was actually doing really well with small aches and little pain before my appendix burst. The standard recovery for spine surgery is 4 months, however I am not your average patient. My body has been trained to breakdown and repair from 25+ years of bodybuilding. I plan on getting back to “normal” in half the recommended recovery time.
It has been a very difficult journey and I’ve chosen to persevere through many health problems in a short amount of time. I endured 2 surgeries in 2 weeks. I’m grateful to be alive, thankful for all the support I’ve received from fans, friends and family. I’m happy to say this week has shown many improvements. I started using a resistance band to lightly workout my upper body. Daily walks have increased to a total of 45 minutes and I’m properly digesting four solid food meals a day. If you would like to continue encouraging me and my progress, please check out my WISHLIST and join my FANPAGE to stay updated!
