The Diagnosis...

     After numerous blood tests and chest x-rays, I was informed that the most probable diagnosis was tuberculosis but I definitely had pneumonia as well.  I'm confused... I thought TB came with coughing?  I didn't have the slightest cough.  I also thought that pneumonia was like a horrible cold?  Hmm, you learn something new everyday.  After taking a sample from my lung tissue, it was confirmed that I had TB.  I stayed in the ICU for a while, then I was moved to an isolation room.  I thought about HER from time to time.  I got very little sleep and the room's temperature was very uncomfortable.  I complained that it was too cold and was told that they couldn't control the thermostats from the hospital.  Huh? Why not?  So that was an on going misery during my whole stay.  I had very little sex drive as I was being pounded with medication.  At the peak, I took around 25 pills a day.  For the first month and a half, I was also on antibiotics and an IV.  I could tell when I was feeling better because I thought about HER and, if we talked, how would I be able to masturbate in my hospital room.  I know right??? There was very little privacy because my bed faced the door and it had a window in the middle of it.  I still didn't have a phone so I didn't call HER the whole time that I was there.  I had a couple of setbacks.  They found a little infection in my left lung too.  The original diagnosis was in my right lung.  Also, my blood chemistry was wacky so I ended up having a total of two blood transfusions before I was released.  One when I was first admitted and one later on.  I could barely move my legs so I also needed physical therapy.  I started doing leg exercises and walked around the room aided by a walker.  Then, when I gained more strength, I would walk around holding on to my therapist's arm.  Again my other upcoming EBOOK - http://RickysNewBook.blogspot.com - goes into great detail about my hospital stay and diagnosis.  I ended up staying in the hospital for two and a half months.  One of the conditions for my release was that I had to stay on supervised medication for at least another five months.  The other was that I had to live with someone.  Well, since I couldn't walk unassisted at the time, I couldn't argue the fact.  It sucked.  I stayed at my mom's house during my recovery.  As soon as I was released and situated, I sent HER a text message saying that I was alive.  Remember all SHE knew was that I dropped off the face of the earth.  SHE had no idea that I was that sick and hospitalized.  SHE texted me back and asked if it was really me.  I used my mom's phone to text HER so SHE was unfamiliar with that phone number. We hadn't talked for about three and a half months.  I got out of the hospital the week before Christmas but I had to spend my birthday and Thanksgiving there.  It was good to hear from HER even if it was only a text.  I wondered what was going on in HER life now.  Did SHE finally get a divorce?  Does SHE even want to talk to me?  I had more hurdles ahead.  I had to teach myself to walk again, get my health back, and find a job when all that was done...