# Popped in to say Hello



## Mista T (Aug 16, 2017)

Hi folks, long time no see! I'm guessing driving for the evil twins hasn't changed much, based on the posts and comments I've skimmed. 

Here's where I've been:

Quit driving to deliver pizza. More immaturity in the Pizza Hut environment than ride hail, since half the people there are under 23 and 80% of the staff are alcoholics or drug addicts. But, I was consistently grossing about $25/hr when all was said and done.

Filed for divorce in 2020. Took a full year, but it went through in April. This came with a forced house sale, and home prices have skyrocketed, so no house anymore but enough money in the bank that I can take time off whenever I want.

Mother died in May this year. Came to Phoenix and decided to move in with dad. If I didn't, he would need a nursing home. And since I just got divorced, both kids are grown and moved away, why not? Sucks to leave my friends behind, but made the decision.

In the middle of the move I got COVID. Didn't take it seriously and next thing you know an ambulance is carting me away with kidney failure. Spent the next month in a coma. Family told that I had a 20% chance of survival. After awakened, another month in the hospital recovering. Was it a hot summer? I wouldn't know.

Now I'm living in Scottsdale, trading stocks, and having lunch with dad every day. I have a seriously heightened appreciation for life now. I just took a job delivering pizza 3 days a week here, just for something to do at night.

Anyways, there's my past year and a half at a glance. I hope everyone is enjoying life - don't let the bastards grind you down!


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## Uber's Guber (Oct 22, 2017)

Welcome back my friend!
Sorry to hear about your mom...


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

Missed you and glad you are well.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

Mista T said:


> Mother died in May this year.


Very sorry for that. May she R.I.P.


Mista T said:


> In the middle of the move I got COVID.


Many of us (including me) did. However not near as serious as you did. Glad you came out.

Thanks for checking in! I always enjoyed your posts.


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## Uberyouber (Jan 16, 2017)

Mista T said:


> Hi folks, long time no see! I'm guessing driving for the evil twins hasn't changed much, based on the posts and comments I've skimmed.
> 
> Here's where I've been:
> 
> ...


I got a $20 bonus on a ride about three weeks ago...


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Mista T said:


> Hi folks, long time no see! I'm guessing driving for the evil twins hasn't changed much, based on the posts and comments I've skimmed.
> 
> Here's where I've been:
> 
> ...


Dayum !
A COMA !

I was all proud of my month & a half off for Hurricane.

So how it go after your kidneys ?


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## Nats121 (Jul 19, 2017)

I'm sorry to hear about your mom and I hope your father is doing well.

Welcome back.


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## MHR (Jul 23, 2017)

It's very good to see you! 

Sorry things sucked for a long while but glad you came out relatively okay.


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## Mista T (Aug 16, 2017)

tohunt4me said:


> Dayum !
> A COMA !
> 
> I was all proud of my month & a half off for Hurricane.
> ...


Man, talk about an ordeal...

I got the Delta but didn't lose my taste or smell, so I didn't take it seriously. To my knowledge I exposed 14 people and an airplane flight. 2 of the 14 were vaccinated. 11 of those 14 people got COVID and one spent 2 weeks in the hospital.

A week later comes the ambulance. Hospitals get a bonus payment of $13,000 if they put you on a ventilator, so guess what I got...a ventilator. They put me under (coma) and started the drugs.

Fun fact, if a patient has COVID the hospital gets paid an extra 30%. Makes me wonder about the statistics, which are gleaned from hospitals. And could that ventilator bonus have anything to do with a nationwide ventilator shortage? But I degress...

Did you know that hospitals pad their insurance payments with unnecessary drugs? I knew of the rumors but this one was really annoying to me. They put me on melatonin, as a sleep aid. Mind you, I'm in a medically induced coma! Why the sleep aid??? Anyways, guess what the side effect of melatonin is - extremely vivid dreams. Or in my case, a horrific nightmare of being kidnapped. As a result, every time I was awakened, I attacked nurses. How to solve that problem? Should we discontinue melatonin? Nah! Let's prescribe the patient an additional drug, gabapentin. Gabapentin is an anti-seizure, anti-depression, anti-delirium drug. We will come back to this one.

A week goes by. With kidney failure no longer a threat they decided to let my body try to heal itself. They put me on life support. Luckily, I didn't have a DNR and my divorce was finalized, otherwise the ex-wife would have pulled the plug. My daughter (age 21) became the person in charge, and the ex advised her to let me die. Hmmm.

9 days later they disconnected me from life support and checked for signs of intelligent life rolling around in my head. Yep, he's still in there! Okay, we're gonna let his body heal on it's own. Whoops! He's got a staph infection and a fever, back on life support he goes!

During the 2nd round of life support I apparently developed 2 blood clots, one in my leg and one in my neck. Odd of survival dropped rapidly. Start the blood thinners...

About a week later they pulled me off life support again. Blood clots gone, COVID gone, kidney failure gone. Tubes in my face and arm. Trachea in my throat, can't talk. Can't get out of bed, and even if I could I am 'tethered' to the wall by tubes.

A few days later the drugs are worn off and I'm putting the pieces all together. I am so tremendously thankful for modern medicine and the wonderful nursing staff. I tried to make my stay as minimally invasive as possible, knowing they have other people there that need their attention so much more than I do.

I learned an amazing new life skill of peeing in a jug so I don't wet the bed constantly. I also learned the hospital version of charades, where you figure out how to communicate what you want with hand and arm gestures.

I was only allowed ONE visitor, period. My daughter came to see me almost every day. No one else was allowed - turned away by security. She brought my cell phone and a tablet so I could face time people. These two things were a life saver.

I had some side effects. One was numbness/lack of proper nerve connection in part of my left leg and part of my left side of my skull. The leg is still an issue but the skull numbness has gone. Another effect was hand tremors. Try and use a cell phone with hand tremors - almost impossible to text. I asked the doctor how long the hand tremors are expected to last. He said that the Delta variant is new, and COVID in general is relatively new, and we don't really know the long term effects, so ... no idea.

As I was researching the side effects of the drugs they are giving me, I find out that gabapentin has some pretty horrific side effects. Depression, delirium and seizures, to begin with. Argh!! I cut that one off right away. Took about 2 months for the hand tremors to disappear.

My in-hospital recovery was off the charts. Having spent decades of my life doing and teaching martial arts, I was in much better shape than the average Joe. (Example, when I went home they gave me oxygen tanks and said I would probably be using them for 4-6 months. I stopped using them after 4 days and returned them 4 days after that.) They were expecting my hospital recovery stay to be 3-4 months, but I got the trachea out of my throat in 3 weeks and the feeding tube out another week later.

During my recovery time I got vaccinated, even though having COVID gave me some natural immunity. Why didn't I get vaccinated before? Because I don't trust corporate America (including pharmaceutical companies) and I don't trust the government. Not looking to start any political drama, I'm simply answering questions I know someone will ask.

The house sale was a residual condition of the divorce, so my daughter had to find an attorney and get a Conservatorship in order to authorize the house sale, otherwise the divorce would be in question. The attorneys, bless their hearts, locked up my money "for my protection". I had unpaid bills, and my bank accounts (including all the money from the house sale) was locked up. I had absolutely nothing to my name and it would take 2 months to unwind the Conservatorship. Thank goodness for GoFundMe!

In total I lost 35 pounds during those 2 months, all of it muscle. Regaining muscle is a slow and steady process. I'm able to do almost 2 chin-ups now, and can do 30 push-ups max at one time.

After leaving the hospital I hung out in Portland for a month of additional recovery. Then my daughter and I drove to Arizona, where I'm living now. I bought a bicycle and take rides almost every morning. I'm enjoying spending time with my family here and appreciating the more relaxed pace.

Hope all are doing well in the Uber world!


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## Diamondraider (Mar 13, 2017)

May the universe see fit to make your journey trouble free, you have bravely faced your share of misery.


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## kc ub'ing! (May 27, 2016)

Glad you lived!


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Mista T said:


> Man, talk about an ordeal...
> 
> I got the Delta but didn't lose my taste or smell, so I didn't take it seriously. To my knowledge I exposed 14 people and an airplane flight. 2 of the 14 were vaccinated. 11 of those 14 people got COVID and one spent 2 weeks in the hospital.
> 
> ...


You were " MEDICALLY KIDNAPPED" !

CANT WAIT TILL GOVT. TAKES OVER HEALTHCARE . . . .SPEAKING OF COERCIAN against ones will . . .


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## 25rides7daysaweek (Nov 20, 2017)

I pity the virus..
Also really glad you got rid of the horrible ex 
and you have a great daughter
You should start bicycle shuffling for fun 😁


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

Damn boy, you've done a whole bunch of living in a short period of time. Good to hear you are doing better now and hope things are much smoother and joyful for you in the future.


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## ANT 7 (Oct 14, 2018)

Glad you’re OK bud.

Lost my dad in December @ 94 years old. Didn’t die from covid though......just time. Visit with yours as much as you can.

Thanks for checking in. Nice see you on the forums again, always enjoyed your posts.


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

Mista T said:


> I got the Delta but didn't lose my taste or smell, so I didn't take it seriously. To my knowledge I exposed 14 people and an airplane flight. 2 of the 14 were vaccinated. 11 of those 14 people got COVID and one spent 2 weeks in the hospital.


Good to hear from you brother!

How about the airplane incident? Was every one masked up? That's a KEY QUESTION.

This is a remarkable story. The hospital shenanigans alone makes for a write-up somewhere. Have you thought about that? Have you told this story on SM? Has it gone viral?



Mista T said:


> During my recovery time I got vaccinated, even though having COVID gave me some natural immunity. Why didn't I get vaccinated before? Because I don't trust corporate America (including pharmaceutical companies) and I don't trust the government. Not looking to start any political drama, I'm simply answering questions I know someone will ask.


I did not vax for the same reasons. I contracted c19 and on the fourth day, rather than risk a nightmare unfolding in the hospital where I would have NO control (and your story justifies my fears), I took a dose of a proven safe anti-parasitic drug that has been use by millions. It was developed by a cat named Satoshi (not the bitcoin Satoshi. The other one).

Continued good luck on your recovery.


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## TulsaUberDriver (11 mo ago)

Mista T said:


> Hi folks, long time no see! I'm guessing driving for the evil twins hasn't changed much, based on the posts and comments I've skimmed.
> 
> Here's where I've been:
> 
> ...


Hope your doing better and enjoying the easy life!


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