Monday, March 01, 2010

Pneumococcal pneumonia

Despite the seemingly early advent of spring in the northwest and having dodged the H1N1 bullet all winter, along came Pneumococcal pneumonia and sidelined me for a week.

When I awoke a week ago today at 6:30 a.m., I felt as if I was drowning and I was -- in my own blood. My lungs were bleeding. Consulting nurse, Urgent Care, M.D. appointment, and further follow-up appointment with my PCP have gotten everything under control, but it has been a scary week and I have been so frustrated to have missed a week of work.

Many treatments with an SVN (small volume nebulizer), three antibiotics, a course of prednisone, and a series of inhalers several times a day and I am almost ready to go back to work tomorrow.

The American Lung Association has long used the advertising tagline: "When you can't breathe, nothing else matters." Hats off to Apria Healthcare for delivering a nebulizer to me at home late at night. What a wonderful service! They embrace that concept, too: "When you can't breathe, nothing else matters." apria.com