Plague No More

On August 16th, 2006 I was admitted to a hospital ER in Albuquerque, NM, dying. Not knowing what the cause was, my brother Dan had taken me there after I was found at home passed-out for several days. The ICU scared me but I was able to describe what it was like, and who was there. Outside of my door was a dark harbinger who, I discovered from Lupita the cleaning lady, was Se or Muerto (death). A dialogue with the Grim Reaper ensued.

My story progresses with visits from The County Health Department, spiritual advisors, friends, then some indication of perhaps the cause. On day 10 the physician in charge of the Infectious disease team stated that I had the Bubonic Plague. In some ways, my physical recovery was just the beginning of a re-awakening and the joy of working with others.

Several chapters are devoted to how I may have contracted it. Included are several chapters about the history of the three pandemics of the plague. Then a rude awakening to my incapacitation, and a dialogue with the insightful cleaning lady. I express thoughts about my family back east not visiting, nor any close female friends coming to see me. Once I began to heal and walk again, conversations are had with others in the facility, a move to long-term care, then circumstances of pending discharge.

Sandwiched in are a couple of chapters about the process of change including a discussion regarding recovery from substances abuse. Once released, I faced going back home alone and starting a work life re-awakened to a new life-purpose. Work is ultimately obtained in correctional facilities; and there are several tales of interactions with inmates. The final chapter is a conversation with Death/Life. There is an underlying theme about not taking the catastrophe so personally, integrating the experience and moving forward with life. Sprinkled with humor as well as serious moments, it is one of the few personal accounts about surviving a death encounter from this rare disease.