...So you want to know where Jarell has been for that last several months?  Well it is not a very long story and is is most certainly not a very pretty one even though it starts out ok...

Summer arrived and I went on a long deserved family vacation leaving the day after school ended for my kids. We did what is called a national parks tour of sorts and visited some relatives along the way.  That was all good.. no one fell in the grand canyon and I did manage to get in some good fishing.  We retuned on the 3rd of July just in time for a family home celebration on the 4th and that is where the trouble began.

I was not feeling my normal festive self that evening and I could not even manage to get drunk (ya I know what a bummer 4th of July and I develop an alcohol immunity). Well over the next few days I was still feeling less then normal but I just chalked it up to being tired from a month long vacation or some bad food...

Well before you know it I was pretty well bed ridden and stuck there for almost 2 weeks. By now I was really getting worried and started to plan for a possible major medical situation... Then I started to notice some swelling and discoloration on parts of my legs so I told the wife it was time to go. We both hopped in the truck (the other being my wife) and darted off to the hospital.

Well 5 days later I woke up from a coma (induced by the doctors) I hade been through 3 surgeries (so they told me) at this point and was informed that there would need to be at minimum 3 more needed.  Now I know your just dying to know  what the heck happened... Ya me too... I was informed how close to death I was and some other words were used including amputation and the like... not being able to sit up at this time and still heavily medicated I looked at my wife with tears in her eyes and then back at the doctors and asked him point blank WTF he was talking about.

It was at this point I was told that with time I would make a complete recovery but there would be scaring and a lot of rehab... good news I did not loose my legs (although with the drugs I could not feel them or move them that I could tell). My fist thought was diabetes and I said as much. I mean I had heard the stories And I was borderline (love that candy) but he said No.. So I then much like your probably saying said alright already what is/was it... He spat out some medical term causing me to look at my wife as if to say WTF and she looked at me and said I had gotten a resistant form or a flesh eating virus.. The panic then set in and I sat for a minute and said nothing. When I finally got a look I was very surprised. Other then loss of some skin (using the term SOME loosely) it was not to bad but what did I know.

Well after spending more then a month in the hospital and undergoing 2 reconstructive surgeries and now more then a month of rehab I can walk short distances. I go back in for 2 more reconstructive surgeries.. I am told the lost muscle tissue will come back and there are skin graphs to replace the lost skin...  Bottom line is I would not wish this on anyone else. But there is one disturbing thing to be aware of here... although I could tell something was wrong there were no visible signs until about 9 hours before I could see this bug... and there was not even a fever.  I lost my appetite and felt like I might be getting the flu.. but that was it...

Now I know some of you know me well and some just know me from the game... But I ask all of you to worry not I will be fine.. I expect a full recovery and with a good pair of board shorts one would never know what I have been through.  I still can't play in game as I can only get behind the computer about 3 hours a day at this point so that does not leave game time for me but I hope to return soon...

Good luck all and if ya feel the need to do something for me just kill a couple extra horde and we will call it good...

See ya when I see ya...

Jarell*