My pneumonia

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

In October, I scheduled an exam with a new Doc.

Before my initial exam took place, I got sick. Fever, severe chills, blocked sinuses, coughs that doubled me over, night sweats.

My new Doc did not give me a chest x-ray, or a TB test. No bloodwork was done.

He decided “You have a sinus infection”.

:confused:

Well, OK.

I took the antibiotics.

Three days later, I was home sick from work.

I was in terrible shape.

I went back to complain.

“Hey Doc! I think that you got the diagnosis wrong. This stuff ain’t helping.”

He gets huffy!

I’m thinking, I don’t wanna be sick with no Doc.

So, I mollify him a little, & he gets me new antibiotics. He tells me, roughly, that if I get little bits of symptoms over the next few months, don’t worry about it, it will go away.

It most goes away.

Over the rest of Octobers & November, I get little “flare-ups”, that quckly go away.

A week ago, it comes back bad !

I go back to the Doc.

He says “Ah, more sinus infection{”.

OK, something smells, but I need help NOW, not when the HMO feels like helping me.

OK, new antibiotic.

Wednesday moening, I wake up and my vision is seriously impaired. Everything is obscured in a milky film over my vision, I cannot read a book.

I freak.

Off we go to the ER

Continued next post

2

I am checked in, & from the begining, everybody is worried that I might have TB.

I tell them that my doc never x-rayed me, or tested for TB.

They just stopped for a second, stared, & said “That’s…interesting.”

Every single one of them.

I get x-rays, bloodwork, TB tests, general respiratory therapy, the works.

End result: pneumonia.

I get new antibiotics, inhalors, & a heartfelt conviction never, never, never to get near my very odd Doc again.

I still feel awful, but today I had enough energy to do laundry, & enough appetite to want food.

3

My little guy was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday and is on a load of antibiotics now. He’s been battling a cold for a month and two weeks ago I took him to the Pediatrician who diagnosed him with “the same thing everyone else is fighting”, meaning the flu.

Friday after school, I picked him up and he was really wheezing so off we went to Emergency. They were great, x-ray right away, all the rest of the poke and pull stuff.

I think that at this point, doctors are treating almost everything as the flu, although the ER doc told me that they can’t keep up with the elderly and young children who are coming in with pneumonia.

Feel better soon!

4

Bosda, Please take care of your self. My wife of 21 years died this July 11, 2003 at the young age of 38. In addition to a grieving husband (that would be me), she left behind a 20 y/o son, a 17 y/o daughter, and a 13 y/o daughter who is having a rough time of things.

The worst part of it, is that we didn’t know the cause of death for almost two months. (We didn’t know she had pneumonia) When she died, the Medical Examiner did an autopsy, and sent the labwork off to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The GBI is so backlogged because of budget cuts, that they are understaffed. They give priority to criminal cases, so I had wait for an eternity before I could apply for Social Security survivor benefits for my children. I couldn’t get complete the paperwork for her life insurance, which requires a death certificate. Needless to say, I couldn’t change any legal document with both of our names on it, i.e. car title, house deed, etc. It was a nightmare. A very nice gentleman at the GBI put me in contact with a couple of reporters, and I was interviewed by Channel 5 (Fox), and by Channel 2 (ABC) here in Atlanta, Georgia.

Anyway, sorry about the hijack, but I would hate to hear of something bad coming of this. Take care of yourself.

E3

5

Thank you for your kindness.

The antibiotics do not seem to be working.

6

I’d give the antibiotics another day or so – from the dates on the posts, you only started them yesterday. I haven’t had pneumonia since I was a little kid, but I’ve been on them lots thanks to a bunch of childhood ear infections; the ones I’ve had usually take a couple of days to kick in. I am sorry you feel so awful!

My brother’s getting over a relatively mild case right now. He sounds vastly better than he did last week, so I’m crossing my fingers that he’ll be able to get back to a flight and get on with basic. (He’s going into the Air Force. He’s two weeks behind because of the pneumonia, which won’t count against him, but he wants to get the heck out of basic!)

7

Bosda, hope your PCP search goes well.

Here’s something you might find interesting. Not all pneumonia is bacterial. Some is viral, and viruses, of course, don’t respond to antibiotics; they go away on their own. Chances are yours is bacterial, but I just thought you might like to store that little tidbit of information somewhere.

Since your pneumonia is most likely bacterial (heck, who knows, they could’ve actually done a culture and found out for sure!), take every single dose of your antibiotic, no matter how you feel. You want to kill all the bad little critters in your chest, not just the weak ones. Also, drink a lot. And take warm, steamy showers. You want that crap out of your lungs.

Poor Bosda. Take care.

8

Enright3, that’s just plain awful! I’m so sorry.

Bosda, you have my sympathy. I was never so sick as when I had pneumonia about 15 years ago. But IIRC it didn’t take the antibiotic more than a couple of days to dramatically turn things around (excepting the cough, though – that sucker lasted forever). If you’re feeling like nothing is getting better, I hope you seriously consider getting yourself back to the E.R.

Feel better!

9

Actually, whiterabbit, I started it…Saturday.

Ummm…
But here it is Tuesday, & I still am getting the night sweats.

And my eyes are so clouded, I have trouble reading the screen.

10

doo do dodo doot DOOT doot DOOT dodo DOOT doo do dodo doot DOOT
MY PNEUMONIA!
doo do dodo doot DOOT doot DOOT dodo DOOT doo do dodo doot DOOT
MY PNEUMONIA!

Ohhh I get a coughing fit, a coughing fit
Ohhh I think I’m reall sick

MY PNEUMONIA!

(sorry but the thread title put that in my head)

11

Zebra I’m glad I’m not the only one.

Bosda I hope you’re feeling better very soon.

12

Bosda, I have really bad something. I get dizzy, my ears hurt, my nose is on fire, blah blah blah. But I just read your post and you made me feel better. Maybe you knowing you made me feel better will make you fell better. Probably not. I really hope you get better soon and I wish I had something more to tell you that would help.

Best wishes

13

Bosda, are you seeing a doctor in the 'Boro or Nashville? Is anyone looking after you and checking on you? I have friends there and we’re just up the pike. When was the last time you saw a doctor?

My son-in-law is an optometrist and I will call him tomorrow and ask him about how the pneumonia might relate to your vision problems. So if there is anything you want to add, I will pass it on. I know that sinuses can affect vision, but I don’t know about pneumonia. Do you have a sinus infection with this?

I am not a doctor. Not even a decent chicken soup maker.

Please feel better right now.

14

Bosda, are you seeing a doctor in the 'Boro or Nashville? Is anyone looking after you and checking on you? I have friends there and we’re just up the pike. When was the last time you saw a doctor?

My son-in-law is an optometrist and I will call him tomorrow and ask him about how the pneumonia might relate to your vision problems. So if there is anything you want to add, I will pass it on. I know that sinuses can affect vision, but I don’t know about pneumonia. Do you have a sinus infection with this?

I am not a doctor. Not even a decent chicken soup maker.

Please feel better right now.

15

I have just switched back to a perfectly fine Doctor I have seen before. I left because I was miffed over a records screw-up, & I sure am sorry.

But I’m seeing him again tomorrow, Thursday.

I live with my elderly parents, so I’m not alone.

BTW–both of my parents are fine.

16

Best wishes Bosda I hope you feel better soon.

17

Zebra, you beat me to it.
my, my, my, my, my, whooo! do do dodo doot - My pneumonia!

Bosda, take care of yourself. Hope you feel better soon.

18

Bosda, I’m glad that you have folks around. Pneumonia made we really wacky. I watched Expo baseball and sang our high school fight song. Oh well. The fever dreams were good.

I checked with the my son-in-law and he said that it is more likely that the medicine itself is causing vision problems, but added that sinus infections can blur the vision also.

I’m glad you are seeing someone tomorrow. Let us hear from you.

19

Went to my new Doctor today, an MD that I went to years ago.

Since my antibiotic ran out today, he gave me a new, different antibiotic, & free samples of an inhaler & pain killer/fever reducer.

I feel…hopeful. :slight_smile: