Ty Pennington is a popular home renovation expert who appears on the HGTV network. Over the last week, Pennington’s life has had some high heights and some low lows. He went from walking on the red carpet of a movie premier to two days later waking up in the hospital. He has now come forward to warn people via an Instagram post that they should never ignore unusual symptoms that crop up, especially when those symptoms do not immediately go away but linger.

The reality star shared that he had suffered from a sore throat for about a month. He didn’t think much about it since there did not seem to be anything he could do to get rid of the sore throat. However, things took a turn for the worst two days after he appeared on the red carpet for the “Barbie” movie premiere. A couple of days after his red carpet appearance, Pennington “woke up at 4 am and could barely breathe,” which was a terrifying experience for the HGTV star.

When Pennington finally found himself at the intensive care unit, he received a diagnosis that finally explained what he had been experiencing for the last month.

“Turns out, that sore throat I’ve had for the last month was actually an abscess that had grown so large it was closing off my airway.”

An abscess can occur almost anywhere on the body. An abscess is a growth that is full of puss and is painful to the touch. They sometimes drain themselves on their own. Other times, a person with an abscess needs a medical professional to drain the puss. After the puss is drained from the abscess, the growth goes away and is cured.

Pennington explained, “I was intubated and flown to the ICU in Denver. Wednesday, I had surgery, and yesterday afternoon, I was released from the ICU.”

His entire Instagram post stated, “From the red carpet to the ICU… this last week has been interesting! I’m okay now, still recovering, but I felt it looked weird that I hadn’t posted about my team #BOTB VICTORY!! SO freaking proud of @smashingdiy & @iamstevelewis !! I will post about that next. To shed some light on why I was MIA… Sunday, I hit the red carpet. Monday, I flew to Colorado to start filming in Breckenridge. And Tuesday morning, I woke up at 4 am and could barely breathe. It Turns out that the sore throat I’d had for the last month was actually an abscess that had grown so large it was closing off my airway. The next thing I knew, I was intubated and flown to the ICU in Denver. Wednesday, I had surgery, and yesterday afternoon I was released from the ICU. Thank you so much to all the amazing staff at St. Anthony’s in Lakewood, CO & Summit Health in Frisco for taking such great care of me. A great reminder to LISTEN to your body when it’s telling you something. #justhappytobehere Also, even through heavy sedatives, it’s good to see I was still in the right frame of mind.”