After posting the first two posts in this WBC Daily Debrief Series that I had so much hope for (the introduction post on Tuesday, July 25th at 8:00am and then the first Daily Debrief post later that night), things went very badly and unfortunately I was hospitalized. But, there is a story to it.

After returning to my room on Tuesday night at about 10:30pm and finishing up writing the first Daily Debrief Series post, I started feeling really nauseous. In fact, I had been feeling so most of the day and off and on over the past 2-3 weeks but it never really lead to anything. But, this night, it would lead to a pukathon like none I had ever experienced before. From around 11:00pm until sometime just before the sun rose at 6:00am, I had run to the bathroom to expel nothing from my stomach but a pale yellowish brown liquid known as bile that aids in our digestion of food about every 45 minutes. Sometimes I would just lie on the cool tile of the bathroom floor resting until the next event. Finally, around 7:30am, I woke up Alexander (who I am sure had heard me most of the night) and asked if he could call the front desk to inquire as to where I could go for some medical attention. There were not a lot of choices in and around Seven Springs and the front desk urged us to call 911 and ask for transport to the Somerset Hospital in Somerset about 30 minutes away. We did so and waited for about 30 minutes for them to arrive. They packed me up and took me on some back roads winding through the hills and mountains of the Pennsylvania countryside at which time I struggled to not lose my stomach. Finally arrived at the emergency room and they admitted me and began a series of tests and questions to understand what was going on.

I am a diabetic, and have been since 2007, and consider myself very diligent and careful about my blood sugar. My last A1C, which is a measure of the glucose level in my blood over a 3 month period, was 6.9 and I rarely go over 200 if ever because I try to eat low carb. They hooked me up to a few different IV’s and pumped me full of sugar water and then took a blood sample. After reviewing the blood, they determined that my ketone levels were high in my blood and asked me questions about my medicines. In June this year, my endocrinologist switched me over to a few new drugs, Jardiance and Ozempic, to help control my diabetes ups and downs and to get me away from using insulin. They believed that I was in what is called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), which occurs when the body starts breaking down fat at a rate that is much too fast. The liver processes the fat into a fuel called ketones, which causes the blood to become acidic. So basically, my blood was becoming extremely acidic. In fact, my levels were in the high 40’s when normal is between 10-12.

Over the next 4 days, they pumped me full of medicines and tried to flush out the acid to bring me down to an acceptable level. Finally, on Sunday, I was at an acceptable level and was feeling much better. Weak but much better and had actually started eating chicken broth and mashed potatoes as they wanted me on a semi-liquid diet for a week or so after. They also found that I have a few ulcers in my stomach that was causing some of my heartburn and indigestion over the past few months and tied that to the evil medicines I was on. I am now off those medicines and have generally returned to normal and am back at work for 4-6 hours per day in the office.

I want to point out a few things. First, I am very grateful for my friend, partner and brother in law Alexander. He was very strong for me during this ordeal and did his best to make sure I was comfortable that morning after the chunder fest. He packed my bag with a change of clothes, some additional socks, my wallet, reading glasses and phone as well as some snacks. He also stayed with me for the first few hours when they were admitting me and getting me diagnosed. I demanded that he return to WBC and have fun as we had lots of plans to play games and do interviews with designers and publishers and I really didn’t want to ruin his vacation. I am blessed to have him in my life and am grateful for his friendship.

Second, I want to thank everyone who sent texts, Facebook messages and emails checking in on me. I didn’t really respond to these messages much as I was out of if the first few days but I want to let everyone know that it was much appreciated. People are very kind and those words of encouragement helped get me through this ordeal. My wife also was stellar and came on Friday to be with me as she had just started school and our daughters needed attention. She also talked with the doctors and nurses often to get updates and stay in touch. It was a bit lonely in that room all by myself. I was bored frequently, couldn’t really sleep and had no interest in watching tv or reading as my head hurt and I was still a bit nauseous. Those 4 1/2 days dragged on and I felt like I was in a time warp but am grateful for those who cared for me, worked hard to make me comfortable and figured out what was wrong and got me back on the path to recovery.

I was very sad that I missed WBC! Well, I did have the first day and it was full of great stuff with meeting and discussing games with Gregory M. Smith, talking with Bryan Collars (designer of Crown & Crescent: The Struggle for Independence in South Carolina from Multi-Man Publishing), saying hi to the great John Butterfield, Ben Hull, Stephen Buonocore formerly with Stronghold Games, and loads of fans and friends (such as Mike Heckman and John Sy). We also played a game of Border Reivers with Ed Beach. It was short lived but I will return in the future. We love WBC and really look forward to the event each year.

Once again, thank you for all of your thoughts and messages. I am back and will be fine going forward.

-Grant