So with all that going on we started our new life. We borrowed $50,000 from my in-laws. This allowed us to buy a house and start a new in Port St. Lucie. I was able to get my brothers and a friend to help me with this move. It was about an hour north of where I was living at the moment. They did most of the moving, and once again I had to deal with ammonia.So as soon as we were finished with the move they went home and I went to the hospital.

If you ever know anyone who has had it,you will hear about a thing called Lactulose. This is what you take to keep ammonia under control. Ammonia will build up in your brain and you will go out of your mind.  You are physically in this world but you see and react to the movie your brain is playing for you.  The fact that amazed me was that the level of ammonia wasn’t as important as how my brain was reacting to the build up of ammonia.  I was put in the hospital will both high levels of ammonia and with low levels of ammonia.  The body is a wonderful thing.  It will do its best to try to keep you regulated.er had hep C o

While we were in the middle of moving the ammonia was building in my brain.  The stress of moving and losing our home and the bankruptcy were just the extra I needed for my body to tip me over the edge.   While we were loading the truck up, I was okay.  I wasn’t moving as much and I would get distracted easily but I was almost myself.  On the trip up to the new house, the ammonia took the next step and I forgot how we were getting to the house but I did get my brother there.  As we unloaded, I became more aggravated with everything.  I was more willing to pick a fight.  I wouldn’t take more lactulose no matter what my wife tried to hide it in.  Before everyone left, I fell asleep.  Unfortunately for my wife I then woke up after midnight.  My wife who had been through this before with me was thought for sure she could get enough lactulose in me to bring me back.  Just before 5 am, I started to physically react to the “movie” playing in my head.  I ended up spilling water, spilling , and cutting open my knee.  I allowed my wife to clean my knee and bandage it.  I don’t know if the pain from it was enough to jar me loose from what was going on in my head at the moment or if it was just dumb luck.  This moment of clarity did not last and I started tearing through the house and boxes that had not been unpacked.  This was when my wife had to call paramedics.  They convinced me to lay down on the stretcher, but when they strapped me in that I started calling for help and my wife.  I couldn’t hear her to respond or the doctors trying to tell me to calm down.  I was loud enough that Security even got involved.  They admitted me to the hospital and I received my first lactulose enema.   It brought me back quite quickly, but this was probably one of the most emotionally devastating times for my wife.

Lactulose gets rid of the ammonia by making your body passed the ammonia. So you take this stuff it’s best to wear diapers. If you don’t take this stuff you’ll wind up in the hospital with a lactose enema. What I found to be the easiest way to figure out whether I needed to take more of my lactose was to see whether or not I could say the Lord’s prayer. If I could say it? Then I wouldn’t have to take more lactulose. It’s very important that you come up with some way to check yourself before the ammonia takes over. If you don’t come up with a way to check it you will end up in the hospital a lot. When you wake up in the hospital you will be in restraints.

It is at this time that I and my family figured out that it is very important to have a list of your current medications and a printed out listing of your medical history.  The paramedics and the hospital will love you for them and you will be thrilled that you are not being asked questions while you are trying to calm your love one.

You will notice that I say that I lose my mind during certain parts of my story but I am still able to write about what happened.  I do this by allowing my wife to fill in the blanks. This will become much more important later in the story.  You will see.