Hi Everyone and thank you for the welcome. I'm Not even sure if I am the right place. I was a police officer for 23 and a half years and 46 yoa at the time.. I had worked my way through the ranks and became 2nd in charge, known as Undersheriff, at the agency I was working at. In 2008 a power hungry new sheriff was elected and Jan. of 2009 he told me my services were no longer needed. A sheriff one county over hired me then and I started from the bottom again, with less than half the salary. This did not bother me that much, because that is the job I had done since I was 22yoa. After working there for only four days, I thought what I had was a bad chest cold and called in sick, which I hated to do. I got my wife to take me to the doctor who said I had pneumonia in both lungs and had to go into the hospital. I asked him if he could give me some medicine and let me go home and he said no. He hooked up an IV and had his nurse follow me to the hospital. I checked in at the ER and from their everything was a blur. Apparently I went out of my head and was very violent. They learned that I had 2 lung infections, which had gone throughout my blood stream and the rest of my organs. They attempted to restrain me numerous times, which I broke out of. At the time I was 225 pounds of all muscle because I worked out 7 days a week. So I was a handful and also did not want any clothes on, which I am sure I was a sight. On the third day in ICU I went into ARDS Acute respiratory distress. I was placed in a coma and placed on the ventilator for 13 days, they were getting ready to do a tracheotomy , which one doctor insisted on waiting 3 days, which I am glad of. After coming out of the coma I weighed 160 pounds and was paralyzed from the neck down. I took a few days to realize what was going on. My hands were drawn into fists and I couldn't move them. Remember this is a small rural hospital My Doc tried to have me moved to larger hospitals but none of them would take me while on the vent. After a couple more weeks in ICU, they were figuring their next move. My Insurance plan was going to have me placed in a nursing home with one hour of physical therapy a day. A very dear friend of mine saw how bad off I was in the hospital and told his mother that that they had to help me or I was going to die. By then all the doctors that spoke to my wife everyday, told her I probably was going to die, it was just a matter of when. The friend of mine and his mother gave my wife a very large some of money and told her to find the place where I would get the best care, which was Brooks Physical Rehabilitation hospital in Jacksonville, FL It was very expensive and the best thing for me, Thank God for true friends and a wonderful wife. I will continue this and make it to the questions part tomorrow Thanks
scott