In many of our government benefit documents, we see and hear the words, work-life balance/wellness. But what does it really mean? To me, I have learned that means to stop and smell the roses! We have all heard this and think we are doing just that. But are we really?

My wife and I travel internationally 2-3 times a year, and always have 4,5, or 6 future trips usually planned, several years out. We were anticipating going on our first Virgin Voyages cruise over Thanksgiving 2022. After enduring the global health crisis travel restrictions, we were super excited for things to "get back to normal!"

Well, all of this changed on the evening of September 29^th, when my wife woke me to inform me that she was coughing up blood. We jumped in the car and headed to the hospital. The attending ER physician said her X-ray showed a small area of pneumonia in her left lung, which wouldn’t normally require hospitalization, but her blood tests revealed some sort of kidney injury, and they wanted to do more tests to locate the genesis of the issue.

She was admitted in the early morning hours of September 30^th, and her assigned physician said later that morning, that they were going to run some blood tests and she would probably be discharged on October 1^st. Her hemoglobin levels were decreasing so he ordered a unit of blood, and more tests for the 1^st. During the day, her breathing became more and more labored, and in the early afternoon, she was put on two liters of oxygen. Throughout the remainder of the day, the oxygen she required rose steadily, and following her second infusion of blood in 24 hours, our world exploded!

Her breathing was so labored she was elevated to eight liters of oxygen, causing the respiratory therapist to activate the crisis team. Literally within one minute of that decision, she was placed on a BI-PAP breathing machine, and her room was filled with medical specialists - many of whom I had no idea of what they did. The immediate assessment was to transfer her to the intensive care unit!

In ICU she was placed on a ventilator and put into a medically induced coma. When they were clearing her airway to insert the ventilator tube, we found out why her hemoglobin numbers were dropping. All of the infused blood was pooling in her lungs. Her body was attacking her lungs and kidneys, causing the lining of lungs to bleed. A kidney biopsy later confirmed the pulmonologist’s preliminary diagnosis; it was a rare auto-immune disorder called Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener’s), also known as GPA. Following 96 hours into the induced coma, literally hundreds of tests, three weeks in ICU, combined with three days in a stepdown ward, followed by a week in a full-time rehabilitation unit, she was finally able to come home.

In order to treat the GPA, her immune system had to be completely eliminated using a strong chemotherapy. This treatment isn’t to be completed just once but was to be repeated a minimum of three times. By wiping out the immune system, it would allow it to rejuvenate (within six months), and we would need to repeat the process. The disorder, coupled with the treatment, has changed my wife from a ball of energy to someone who is exhausted by merely taking a shower.

My wife had been 100% healthy until this incident. Now, we have to be super conscious of our surroundings. We refrain from going to crowded areas, only dining out well before the crowds. She has yet to be cleared to travel, and in her words, "even if the doctor said I could, right now, I’m not strong enough to go and enjoy myself."

The day she completed her initial chemotherapy treatment, I found out my father passed away in Illinois. Earlier that week, my son tore his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his knee. When I told my wife about my father’s passing, I started to ask, "What else?" She interrupted and said, "Don’t ask that question. When our plate is full, get a bigger plate."

I share this not for sympathy or pity, but to drive home the point to everyone, everywhere: Life is short. Enjoy it. For over four days, we weren’t sure my wife would ever come home, so embrace your "normal" and don’t take a single day for granted because in the blink of an eye, everything can change. Normal is a relative term. Our health and work-life balance are not guaranteed.