The next morning I was grateful to see my teammate Chad had started a Gofundme to help with the medical costs . I don ’ t have insurance and while booking several flights at once happened to not get travel insurance for this one trip . I normally get insurance for the gear bags alone and this sole mistake would cost me a ton of money and debt . It was unreal to see that by the second day the paintball community had already put a huge amount into it that would put a good dent in my medical bills . We are so fortunate to be in a sport like this , and I am forever appreciative and grateful for all those who shared and supported . It meant the world in there .
Days 7-10
During these days my other symptoms finally begin to lessen and subside one by one . During these days I went through tests like MRIs , ultrasounds and other loud obnoxious tests ……. one by one . I want to go home to Tampa and every extra night I stay here is money I don ’ t have . By the 10th day they learned there were no pools of fluid to drain and my new stronger antibiotic was actually showing signs of working . My leg was almost down to normal size , the pain was slowly decreasing , and I could kind of bend my knee . My white blood cell count was coming down and the infection level went down from in the thousands of parts per million to 400 . Still I ’ d have to deal with the frustrations of new nurses coming on for their four day shifts not being warned about the severity of my leg and just picking it up quickly , or running it into walls in my wheelchair . One even shut the bathroom door on it and I screamed and cursed bloody murder through the hallway .
And now some doctors would tell me I may be out in only a few more days of this and others would say it could be another week or more . I was homesick and sick of this hospital and I had a girlfriend at home who had been waiting for my return for four weeks now . Everything about this was putting me at my stress limit , raising my blood pressure on tests and getting me edgy with staff . Hope would be brought up in the morning only for a different opinion to destroy it around 5pm . All I could think about was getting home to the comfort of my own bed and girlfriend ,