Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Was discharged from the hospital this evening. Tired and weak. They told me to take it easy for a few weeks, get back slowly. Otherwise, I feel great, and I have big gold stars all over all my test results.
I've left a few dozen doctors reeling. When they looked at my intake x-rays they seriously didn't expect me to live. Repeat that. Seriously. The pulmonary specialist said he'd never seen a worse case of pneumonia.
I had injured a rib coughing, and THAT pain is what had taken me to Daughter for help. She took one look at me and dragged me to the ER. The pneumonia had screwed with other chemical balances, and I was in tachycardia, so they put me on a heart monitor. Some other organs weren't functioning correctly. My kidneys were on the verge of shutting down. A team of specialists in major systems was rapidly assembled.
I guess they don't often find little old ladies my age who take no prescription meds on a daily basis. Within 12 hours on the antibiotics I was doing better, and within two days everything was within specs. My BP was 128ish/68ish, pulse had settled at 70, blood sugar held rock steady at 98-101. Temperature wandered a bit, and my blood oxygen level was too low, at about 88 off oxygen and 93 on, but hey, I still had a chest full of infection.
So, they kept me until my blood tests said no more white blood cells marauding (infection done), and my off-oxygen saturation, what I could manage all by myself, was holding in the low 90s.
The doctors think I'm amazing.
That damn rib STILL hurts a LOT though!
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