Bye Bye 2011 - Hello 2012

So 2011 is coming to a screeching halt. Heck, my last blog was in January 2011....and was talking about resolutions... Seems like every year we start off with such high expectations of resolutions or changes or milestones or...shoot, pick a word and use it...and then, most all of us who attempt to achieve these goals fail within a week. At least on one. This year, I'm setting a mindset of sticking to my Top 10. I'm writing them down and I'm going to hold myself accountable. I challenge any of you who are taking the time out of your day / night and reading this, to challenge me / push me as well. These will be posted on January 1 - as part of one my goals.... :-)

I am running into 2012 with a totally different mindset than any previous year. And I'll be completely open and honest with you why - it was Christmas Day - and I felt a feeling of insecurity and "scared-ness" that I've never felt before in my life. But let me give a little background first....shortly after Thanksgiving I was diagnosed with pneumonia. A few weeks of a lingering cough that turned into severe wheezing and ultimately full blown pneumonia. I had the option of "taking it easy" and resting or being admitted to the hospital. I chose the former. Of course, I overextended myself, although my sweet wife did all she could to ensure I was resting as best as possible.

After a night of playing Santa and getting all the kids' toys together and everything set up nicely - we went to bed. Christmas Day rolled around and started off just like we expected. The kids woke us up, wanted to run downstairs and see what Santa left them, make sure he ate his cookies and all that fun stuff. So we obliged. Video will be posted later.

The kids played for a bit, were really thankful for what they received, we read the story of Jesus' birth in Luke 2 and headed to church. It was a nice service, very informal, the kids even stayed in service with us. We came home, Lori's grandparents came over to see us - well mainly the kids - and then headed home. I ate lunch - jambalaya - and after about half an hour, started to feel really bad.

I was already on a significant amount of medicine so thought maybe I was getting sick with a mixture of the meds and food - maybe I ate too much, don't know. But my throat started getting tight so I went upstairs and grabbed a Prevacid - I have reflux so was thinking maybe that would help. After about 5-10 minutes, it started getting worse, so I asked Lori to get my inhaler - took 2 puffs and still nothing better - in fact, my throat was getting even tighter. I shifted around in my chair, very, very uncomfortably, drinking water, thinking, "throat's just a little itchy, no big deal"....then all of a sudden, I couldn't swallow. No matter what I tried, I couldn't catch a good breath. That's when I told Lori I needed to go see someone - now.

We piled in the car and rushed off to the ER. Honestly, all I remember is standing up in the den, shaking - from fear and just absolute coldness - then getting into the van. The next thing I remember, I was answering some questions in the triage room and shortly after was being connected to some IV and other machines. Turned out I had an allergic reaction to "something" which caused "severe swelling of the soft tissue" in my neck. We're still awaiting the test results to see what it may have been.

While they were running tests and pumping me with meds, all I could think about was "am I having a heart attack", "am I going to be ok", "what is going on with me", "I can't leave my kids and wife"....I was scared. Very, very scared. I cried.

My kids and Lori were super troopers. After 5-6 hours and a LOT of medicine, my throat opened back up and I was able to swallow and catch my breath in a normal pattern. The gang at Gwinnett Medical was incredible! Not really how I envisioned spending Christmas afternoon/evening but considering the circumstances, I don't think I could have been anywhere better.

They think it was a reaction to the shrimp from the jambalaya although I have been tested before and shown negative. I did have shrimp 3 out of 4 days leading up to that and have been told that if I had a slight allergy to that, exposing myself consistently to that could have caused an asthmatic reaction. Unfortunately, because of the medicine I'm on, it will be another week or two before I can go back for full testing to see if that was the case. I also need to go to a GI doctor to have additional testing for my reflux as the doctor mentioned it could have been a bad flare up of acid which triggered the reaction. I was also told by my family physician that had I not been on a steroid already, nor had the inhaler, this would have been extremely bad.

It's been almost a week now and I have haven't even thought of eating bad. I don't even want Mt. Dew. And for those of you who really know me, that's HUGE! Nor have I wanted fried food - another big thing for me.

I want to be around for my wife and kids. For a LONG, LONG time. I want to be healthy. I'm tired of being tired. I'm tired of being fat. I'm tired of being on medicine for things I know that I can control. So this year is going to be different. I'm going to eat healthier, I'm going to cut out carbonated drinks, I'm going to cut back on fatty foods, I'm going to exercise. I WILL BE in the best shape I've ever been. I'm going to be the spiritual leader of my house. I'm going to be the dad and husband I vowed I would be. I'm going to make an impact on 2012.

I'm ready for 2012 - are you?! Let's do this!!!!