Back in 2009, I almost lost my life to an infectious disease called MRSA. It is a very powerful and unfortunately drug resistant strain of bacteria that literally overtakes the body's tissues seemingly overnight; or at least that is what happened in my case!
This devastating invasion of my body by a parasitic entity that was hell bent on wiping out my existence from this planet put me in the intensive care unit of the Sibley Hospital in Georgetown for ten full days. Anyone who wished to visit me had to be sprayed down and wear a full body protector straight out of the makeshift hospital scene in ET!!
All I remember is waking up in the middle of the night thinking I was in a hellish Fredie Kruger themed nightmare in which I could barely move my left leg. I tried to go back to sleep , when an excrutiating pain started emanating from my left groin straight down to my toes. THIS WAS NO DREAM. I tired to jump pout of bed, but to no avail, as I was in just too much pain. So I strutted for the nightlight to the side of my bed, flicked on the switch, and threw back the covers that hid the malady that was awaiting me.
My entire left leg was swollen to almost double its usual size. If that wasn't horrifying enough, my entire thigh was colored in black and purple dark hues of horror. All I could think of was that I been accosted while in my sleep with a baseball bat that bashed the living shit out of my leg! No joke......
I screamed for my help and my dad came running down the stairway and stopped dead in his disillusioned tracks when he saw my leg laying half off the side of the bed, looking like a prop for the TV show The Walking Dead. But this was no Hollywood illusion. This shit was the real deal.
Since I couldn't walk, he carried me to the car and rushed me to the hospital. Zooming in and our of traffic like a grand Prix champion, he pressed good sense for intentional concern for my immediate well being. Thirty grueling minutes later we arrived at the Dr. and after taking one look at my leg, I knew things were not good. The doctors on staff huddled together and when the middle broke one nurse approached me and asked me what type of pain medications I was allergic to.
“What the hell is happening to my leg”, I shouted out!
“You have an infection called MRSA that has overtaken your leg. We need to get a surgeon in right away to see what we can do!” she said with more concern that compassion.
The next few hours I sat in isolation as MRSA is incredibly contagious and damn deadly too!!
A surgeon finally showed up and spent a good fifteen minutes investigating my leg.
“I have good new and I have bad news” he said.
”Doc, just tell me what the hell is going on with me. I already have Crohn's disease and so I can take whatever you have to tell me. But just no more waiting. Just let me have it!”
“The bad news is that the MRSA has completely taken over your left leg. And there are very little options we can try before removing the leg to save your life. The good news, is that there is a drug that has proven to be effective in some patients that we can try on you. We will watch you hour by hour and have to take blood several times a day. If the MRSA gets into your blood stream to your internal organs, there is absolutely nothing we can do!”
“Is THAT all Doc. Sheeesh! And here I though we were dealing with something more serious.” I smirked.
To spare you the gruesome details of the next few weeks, the medication actually worked and both my leg and life were saved. But it was one particular talk I had right before being discharged for the final time that had the biggest impact on my experience with this THING called MRSA.
An infectious disease Dr. came into my room and sat on my bed. he told me that as serious as MRSA is, there are so many other ‘things’ out there that MRSA is not even on his top ten list. “Well it sure in the hell is on mine!” I declared back. The Dr. smiled and shook his head.
He told me it is the bacteria that they are not taking a close enough look at and spending enough time on that scares him the most. And that last sentence haunts me to this day. And I mean that in a positive manner. It is a daily reminder and a mesmerizing metaphor for how the ‘things’ we fail to take a look at in our own lives are the very variables that threaten to take us down the path toward depression and misery. Discord and dis-ease of the mind, spirit and body.
Ever since that day, I have tried to make sure I do not push back at what needs to be looked at and faced in my own life. Be it relationships, jobs, our health or any other from of life's real stressors that like MRSA can literally take us out in an instant if we let them!! If we don't address them with real courage, strength, and persistence. EACH AND EVERY DAY!!!
So today I ask you, are there areas in your life that you are resisting to look at. That you are hiding from or avoiding out of fear or failure. Demons of dis-ease lurking behind many corners of your BEING. I URGE you to stop these limiting beliefs and the actions that follow and step INTO your power and confront anything and everything that is keeping you from being the Greatest Version of the Greatest Vision you have ever heard of yourself!! I have done this one many occasions, and I can't tell you how much better you will feel, and how much more AMAZING life becomes.....
Nerdmaste,
Jeffrey Louis Martinez
No comments:
Post a Comment