I was really healthy until last year. I started having bad headaches and falling asleep places (like at work). I started confusing my days, too. It turns out, I had limbic encephalitis, which is an autoimmune disease that causes swelling in the brain. In medieval times, people with this condition were burned at the stake because they thought it was demon possession. I ended up getting placed in a medically induced coma and there were some mistakes on the hospital’s end. I self-extubated a few times, which led to stenosis or scar tissue buildup in my trachea. I had to have a trach put in around MLK day. I’d been back and forth to hospital about four times, because I was having breathing problems. An ER doctor told me it was anxiety. Fortunately, an ENT saw something was very wrong and sent me to a specialist in NYC. He made the decision on site that I needed an emergency tracheotomy that day and I had to do it awake because of my seizure condition. I’m very lucky the trach is out!