Some of you may have noticed that I've been gone a while Its a long story so here it goes..... 

July 29 2005 I passed out in my apartment and was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. At first we thought I was suffering from heat stroke, I was actually bleeding internally  from  scare tissue in my esophagus ( gotta take that acid reflux thing seriously kids ).

After vomiting blood all over myself and the ER nurses I was rushed into emergency surgery, at one point the doctors told my family  they were considering surgically removing my stomach ( they didn't, thank god that would have really sucked!).

 During surgery I inhaled vomit into my lungs.  ( Yup, just like Jimi Hendrix )

 This lead to pneumonia and a condition call Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome or ARDS.

The doctors gave me less that a 50/50 chance of living ( my family brought in a priest to perform last rights, what a drag! )

I was in a coma for 7 weeks, when I finally woke up my muscles had atrophied to the point that I could barley move. I spent a month in a nursing home to get me weaned off myriad of medications (which included morphine and methadone) and get my muscles working again

Believe it or not I actually feel pretty lucky. ARDS affects over 150,000 people a year  is about 50 percent  fatal and kills more people a year than breast cancer, according to the ARDS foundation Many ARDS survivors end up permanently disabled.

I still have some physical therapy to go through but over all I feel pretty good.

I came out of this experience with about half a million dollars in medical bills, a new appreciation for life and a really cool scar that runs from my navel to my sternum.

The doctors and nurses  at Harborview did a great job at keeping my alive especially the ICU staff. I'd like to thank the physical  therapy staff at Queen Ann Health Care as well.

Its been a tough few months and I couldn't have gotten through it without the help of my family, friends and co-workers

Told you it was a long story

For more details go to  the KOMO 4 Website

http://www.komotv.com/news/story.asp?ID=39421