Recovering...slowly

[gerisullivan]

Last Friday, even though she was out of the office, my doctor has her staff move my April 6th follow-up and physical appointment to Monday in light of the pneumonia diagnosis. I was okay with that, especially given how rotten I felt that day. The good news is that Friday turned out the worst. Saturday morning brought a surprisingly large

Comments

[kaeljo]

Being without CPAP is smart for the reasons you say, but contributes to exhaustion. Grateful you're getting better and that Elaine is there to help you.

[gerisullivan]

Thanks! Me, too!

[jennlk]

I am glad that you are feeling better. Keep it up.. It will take a while -- longer than you think, IME -- to get back to "normal".

[As an aside, when I had pneumonia (which required two courses of antibiotics to get rid of), I did not have a cough. Ever. I had fever and chills, and dramatically compromised lung capacity, but never a cough.]

[gerisullivan]

Many thanks for the first-person account of pneumonia without a cough. I'm wondering how long I'd had it. I've been notably shorter of breath than usual this winter, and totally dragging on the energy front. My sense of body temperature control has also been off.

[jennlk]

My doc did say that people usually don't come in as early as I did. She had a bunch of the residents come in and listen to my lungs, so they could hear what *just* pneumonia sounded like. (The clinic is part of the UMich Health System, so lots of residents)

I noticed it mostly because I was in the middle of performance season, and I went from being able to play an entire 8bar phrase on one breath to needing a breath after every measure or so.... And then the fever/chills hit, and I was off to the doc.

She told me that it could take up to 3 months to be back to "normal". I think it was at least a couple of months before I felt all the way better.

[voidampersand]

I'm glad you figured it out and are getting better. Looking back on what happened, I think that you were faced with a very tough medical mystery, and the way that you and the medical staff and your friends responded was impressive. The only way it could have gone better was if you'd had a lucky break. Which would have been nice, for sure. Anyway, taking it easy sounds like a great idea, and I hope that soon you will start feeling fabulous instead of just being fabulous.

Glad you're on the mend

[thirdworld]

I'm so pleased that you're on the mend. Pneumonia is scary. Take care, dear one.