10 Aug 2021
Gary Schiavo is feeling sick with Trixi Sunshine .
So, some of you are aware that I’ve been in the hospital and others aren’t. I’ve kept a pretty tight lid on it as I felt I needed some privacy. That being said I think it’s important for people to know what I’ve been going through, I feel it would be irresponsible not to share.
Before I get into my story I have to thank my beautiful Trixi Sunshine who I love so much, she has been my rock through this all, I would have been lost without her. I am so lucky to have her, she’s helped every step of they way. Being a medical professional she understands everything that’s happening and that’s been so very helpful to me.
Now, on to my post. I’m writing this post sitting in the ICU with a foley catheter, IV’s, Oxygen, some leg compression device and a ton of leads stuck to my body being monitored. I’ve had multiple CT scans, multiple Ultrasounds, an Echocardiogram, a transfusion, lab work done daily, and an MRV scheduled for today. I’m basically a human pin cushion. I have blood clots in my leg and in both lungs, I’m short on breath and am really tired, I can tell you that never in my life have I been so sick. At one point I truly believed I wasn’t going to leave here upright.
You’re probably thinking I must have a severe case of COVID19, well, no, that’s not the case at all. In fact I am here because of COVID19, but not “from it”. There is a lot of pressure to get vaccinated for COVID, I waited because I wasn’t completely comfortable with the vaccines yet, I simply wasn’t ready. Well, I had to travel for a work event and as with everything else these days being vaccinated was something that protocols were being set around. I came to the realization that this isn’t going to end, you can hold out but the roadblocks will only become more prominent. So, I gave in, I set an appointment and walked in a healthy man and reluctantly got jabbed. Roughly 8 days later I wound up in the emergency room. I’m not going to go into detail regarding all of the issues I was having but will tell you they were severe. I went home for 2 days after spending the night in the ER and went back again after nothing had improved. I was admitted last Thursday and have been under close observation since. Doctors were confused as my blood counts made no sense to them it’s a strange case as I’ve been told.
Well, here’s where it gets interesting, it turns out that everything I am going through is a severe reaction to the Johnson & Johnson COVID19 vaccine. That’s right, this vaccine that is designed to save me actually put me in a life threatening position. So before you begin telling people that they’re “being selfish” for holding out on the vaccine think long and hard on whether or not you’ve earned the right to make that statement. There are very valid concerns that people have and I’m in the hospital living through those concerns right now. I know the odds are extremely low, 1 in however many millions but the chance is there and the effects are real. It’s like winning one of the worst lotteries ever, it’s one I never want to win again.
I am not anti vaccine in general, I know vaccines can be a good thing. The COVID19 vaccines had me concerned for multiple reasons and clearly I’m still not sold. I would never tell you to get or not to get the vaccine, it’s your choice, I would however after my experience probably recommend getting one of the others if you intend to get jabbed. I pray nobody else has to go through what I have been going through, it’s miserable. As for me, I’m not out of the woods yet but did get a glimpse of some positive news this morning so while I’m still stuck in the woods, I think there may just be a clearing somewhere down this long road. Treatments will continue for months but I’ll do what I have to do to get my life back!
Before judging someone or calling them selfish please understand there are real risks. Do what you feel is best for you and your family but do not belittle someone else for doing what they feel is best for them.
To all of you that have reached out, messaged, prayed and kept me in their thoughts, I can’t thank you enough.
Feel free to comment here or reach out to Tracy (Trixi) as she’s been handling most of those for me. It’s really hard for me to talk and even texting takes the energy right out of me so I appreciate letting me rest.
I love you all!
**UPDATE** First off I’d like to thank everyone for the outpouring of support, love and comments, it’s overwhelming. Unfortunately I will not be able to respond to each of you individually, I am reading them. It warms my heart. It takes a lot out of me to respond so please don’t take it personally.
Additionally, many have asked if they can share the post, I made it public so it is sharable, feel free.
**SECOND UPDATE. My wonderful lady and personal nurse has created a GoFundMe to help cover some of the medical expenses and ongoing treatments. The link is in the comments below, if you could help out by sharing the link it would be greatly appreciated. Getting my health back is my main concern and all I truly care about, but we all know the financial burden is also pretty scary
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