ALIVE

We take it for granted that each morning we will wake up, but it is never a certainty.Sue an I laid down for our nights rest about a month ago, each of us with our current book in hand. 'I'm not enjoying this book you can bring it back to the library tomorrow", never did I comprehend those were the last words I might have listened to from the love of my life, my partner, bookkeeper,and the master of pets in our house. The next morning I got up and took care of the dogs needs as was my normal routine. Sue woudl get up about an hour later and join me for a cup of coffee while I was downing my seond cup. Not a morning person, I learned through long experience that conversation was not to be started until about ten oclock, Sue's not a morning person. Sue had not been feeling well since receiving a tick bite a couple of weeks past, Emergency, and our regular physicians thought she had a virus and would shake it in a week to ten days, but both were wrong. Not able to get Sue up, I called for an ambulance and made the trip behind the rescue team to the hospital Where I learned she was in serious trouble. The tick bite that Sue and I thought was a spider bite had caused total liver and kidney failure, and swelling of the brain. She would be unconcious for the better part of a week in a ICU bed while a team of Doctors tried to figure out what the cause was. One of the eight diseases that ticks can transmit was only an hour or two away from killing her when we made it to the Emergency Room. WARNING: DON'T IGNORE A TICK BITE. IF YOU START HAVING PAIN IN YOUR JOINTS, FEVERS THAT COME AND GO, AND A COMPLETE LACK OF INTEREST IN FOOD, GET TESTED.DONT ASSUME A VIRUS OR FLUE. SUE IS RECOVERING IN A REHAB SETTING AFTER A LONG STAY IN AN ICU BED. YOUR COMMENTS AND WELL WISHES WILL BE WELCOME. I AM ROBERT, THE OTHE HALF OF THE PORTUGUESE WATER BLOG. SORRY NO PICTURES IN THI POST. WHEN SUE COMES HOME PERHAPS WE CAN REVIVE MY ATTEMPT TO GET THIS MESSAGE OUT TO EVERYONE