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Posted by: StonedGrover May 8 2006, 09:14 AM

so, how has everyone been? i havent been around much. i quit playing FFXI a while ago, and started playing World of Warcraft with my brother. It is alot of fun. I am looking forward to PSU, as i will definantly be playing that. prolly on PC or Xbox.

but what has everyone been up to? how is life treating you? i must know!!

Posted by: Zorya May 8 2006, 09:16 AM

Hey Grover! Great to see that you're back on your feet!

I'm not doing much--I start my internship tomorrow and I'm playing WoW in my free time. I've also started doing archery again now that the weather's stable. Pretty boring, really. ;]

Posted by: AC9breaker May 8 2006, 10:05 AM

Oh shit, welcome back man!
Hope your doing good. Its great to hear from ya. Can we expect to see you around these parts more? We never played much but when we did we had a blast on FFXI. Maybe we can have more good times once PSU drops!

Posted by: Woe May 8 2006, 11:07 AM

Good to see ya man, what server do you play on with WoW?

Posted by: Wiryu May 8 2006, 11:09 AM

Yo grover! good to see ya back!

Posted by: StonedGrover May 8 2006, 02:01 PM

Posted by: StonedGrover May 8 2006, 02:03 PM

Posted by: StonedGrover May 8 2006, 02:20 PM

so, ill give everyone a quick update on me..

I had been ill for a long time. felt like a horrible cold that i couldnt shake. but i didnt have health insurance, so i didnt go to the dr for a long time.

on Feb 15 of this year, i went to see my Primary care physician as i thought i had pnuemonia. he told me i didnt have pneumonia, but i had a pulmonary embolus, which is a blood clot going to my lungs, and it can kill you. i was transported to the local hospital emergency room, and they did xrays and a ton of tests. i didnt have a pulmonary embolus, but i was in fact, in complete liver failure.

they told me they couldnt care for me there, and pu me in an ambulance and sent me to Mass General Hospital. (which in my opinion is the greatest hospital in the world)

upon being admitting, they told me how sick i was, and that they would do whatever they could to keep me alive long enough to treat me. I was very close to death. VERY close. they couldnt do a liver biopsy because your liver controls your bloods ability to clot. if they did i biopsy, i would have bled to death. they couldnt figure out what was wrong with me for 13 days. when finally they called in one of the heads of research at mass general, and he was able to diagnose me with Auto-Immune Hepatitus. whihc is laymans terms means my body thinks my liver is a foreign invader, and my body is attacking and trying to kill my liver.

they determine the best way to treat me is to put me on heavy doses of prednizone. which is a steriod. one of the side effects of steriods is that they completely obliterate your immune system. well, unknown to everyone, i had apparently obtained and was incubating both bacterial and viral pneumonia, and influenza A. when the sterois killed my immune system the diseases decided to strike.

I woke up one morning feeling like i couldnt catch my breath, and felt like something was caught in my throat. i started coughing, and blood started coming up. at first a little, then alot, then bucket loads of it. I crashed, and they had to rush me to the ICU where they kept me unconscious for 6 days. I woke up to a tube in my throat and whats called a central line, which is basically an IV, which is inserted through my neck directly to my heart. i recovered in the hospital for another 4 weeks after that, and then was moved home. I came very close to dying in ICU. the nurses on my floor figured there was a less then 1% chance i would come out of there alive. the pneumonias had completely destroyed my lungs, and i was unable to breath without machines for a month afterwards. i had no airsacs in my lungs.

i am better now. my liver is almost completely better, and im working hard on staying healthy. it was a pretty scry 2 months, and it made me realize how lucky i am. so i wanted to come by and say hi to some old friends, and see how you all were doing.

hope everything is well.. =)

-Josh

Posted by: AC9breaker May 8 2006, 02:56 PM

Wow man. I never would have imagined anything like that to happen. Wish there was something I could have done. Glad to hear your doing much better though. Here's to you getting back on your feet.


I'm doing not too bad myself. Used the money I saved up from when I use to work in highschool and bought myself a little PC nothing too fancy, just enough for PSU and get papers done. Decided to not go to school in the Fall and just help my family like, taking care of my brothers and sisters kids. Now I'm getting ready for school, and planning on starting in the Summer then continuing through the fall. Just waiting to hear on financial aid stuff and all before anything else. All in all Ive been really good.

Posted by: Ferra May 8 2006, 03:57 PM

Ahh, glad you made it back, my arch nemesis You're sorely missed in FFXI.

I'm sorry to hear about your health problems, that shit is really, really scary this close to home. It's a relief to hear you're better, though.

I started reading the Wheel of Time series like you recommended so long ago. Perrin Aybara! I recognized the name right off the bat.

Posted by: Frosty May 8 2006, 04:31 PM

I don't really know you, but it's good to hear things are going well for you. I'm glad you were blessed enough to survive that whole ordeal.

Posted by: Woe May 8 2006, 05:06 PM

Posted by: Ellianna May 8 2006, 05:25 PM

bara..lil buddy welcome back, glad you're doing better, does this mean we will be blessed with your sick sense of humor once again?! i dont normally do this but seeing as what you've been through i must give you this ***hugs***

Posted by: Crushinator May 8 2006, 07:33 PM

Wow, what an astounding trial you've been through! It's great to hear that you are doing so much better now, though. Nothing keeps an AT soldier down, right?

Welcome back, dode.

Posted by: StonedGrover May 8 2006, 09:50 PM

thanks for the well wishes guys. it was pretty messed up. im going back on june 1st for a endoscopy and colonoscopy. neither of which are fun.. trust me..

i learned alot about myself.. and my determination. it is hard to be stuck in the hospital away from your family and friends for 7 weeks. but i didnt give up. and more importantly my body didnt give up.

there is a test the do which measures your liver functions. the measurement is referred to as "Bilirubins" or "bili's" for short. when i was in the hospital, i was completely jaundiced, and my bili level was 10.0 a normal healthy liver is suppsed to be between .2-1.5, i was clearly very sick. as of last wednesday, my bili level is 2.0. the doctors use the word "miraculous" to describe how quickly my body has healed itself. i am almost better. =)

but thanks for all the well wishes. and yes im going to be around more often.

apparently when i was unconscious in ICU, i would wake up occassionally but it was almost like sleep walking. i have no recollection of it at all. i was communicating with my family and nurses by writing on their hands with my pointer finger. spelling out words..

i guess the first thing i said was im so sorry i wasnt strong enough to win. then i asked if i died. and then apparently upon learning that i hadnt died, they got me a notebook, and a pen, and i wrote down,

"you cant fucking kill me. im invincible." lol... im a retard.

i used filthy language even while unconscious. hahahaha.. and i guess i kept telling dirty jokes once they took the breathing tube out. but again, i have no memory of this what so ever.

and woe, you and oddies need to roll some horde on Arthas, and come play with the big boys.. =)

missed you all. hope to see you all in PSU very soon.

-Josh

Posted by: Sgt. Retehi May 9 2006, 05:03 AM

Hey man, I may not know you too well personally, but I applaued you for sharing your story with us. I also am glad you are doing well after such a tough situation.

Obviously many people here missed you, do stick around and make your self comfortable.

Posted by: Vitamin D May 9 2006, 10:59 AM

Wow man, that's crazy. It sounds quite frightening, but it's awesome to hear that you made it through. I don't really know you either, but if you're down with PSU, that'll change.

Posted by: DJ_Donkey May 9 2006, 11:05 AM

Dam that's crazy for real. Glad you made it through.
I guess we'll all see each other in PSU

Posted by: Kazicht May 9 2006, 01:30 PM

I had no idea you were going through such rough times. And rough seems to be a serious understatement. I'm glad your okay now, and we'll defenitly see eachother on PSU!
Take it easy!

Posted by: hamstar May 9 2006, 06:10 PM

jebus boy! You are not allowed to die on us, no matter if you hang around or not.
Life here in Ham world is less eventful. I'm toying with the idea of moving out of state, because I can now. I don't really know where exactly I would go though.