Happy Anniversary to me...

Well, not your typical anniversary...like years married or in a job...no this week bears the anniversary of my near death experience. No, I don't have stories of the afterlife or bright lights,  I guess I wasn't that near death. But if you were me...it was. It came down to a simply decision really, one that even now, 4 years later I give 100% of the credit to my sweet departed dog, he's been gone now 2 years, the anniversary of his passing is also coming up soon. Anyway, I was sick, having recently flown, not hard to believe. An adult with 102 fever even on medication...yeah that's sick. I had been to my primary doctor twice in 24 hours. They assured me, I would feel better soon and to just take the antibiotics they had given me. (There's a lot more story to this but I'm trying to not focus on how inept they were.) So that night I was laying on my bed, my throat feeling worse, with hardly any voice and barely able to swallow water, and I came to a cross roads: either take the medication and go to sleep or go to the hospital. It wasn't an easy thing to decide. Having grown up with a nurse as a mom, well you just didn't over-react to medical things.  But my dog, he made me aware this was no joke. He didn't leave my side that day or evening. He followed me every time I left a room. When I was laying on my bed trying to make that decision he was right there next to me. He wouldn't eat, or go out side. He was worried about me.  I decided to go to the hospital. And probably not a moment to soon. Within an hour of walking in to the ER I was intubated and put into a medically induced coma. I woke up 3.5 days later.  Epiglottitis: an infection of the epiglottis.  1 in 100,000 Adults are stricken with this a year.  They never could tell me why it happened, but they did assure me it is highly unlikely it would ever happen again. My take away from this, 4 years later, it did take awhile to get to this point...live every day to the fullest, as much as you can. you never know what day will be your last. Live, Love, Laugh and Enjoy every day!