Better Still

Today I felt much more like myself, even went for a stroll and mowed a little bit of the lawn.  Temps are normal and the pulse oximeter regularly shows numbers in the high 90's.

The pneumonia is on the run, and I won't post any more about it here unless there is a dramatic reversal.

Recovering at Home

They let me out of the hospital this noon, and I like being with my loved ones.  I feel a little better than yesterday, but the regimen is about the same at home as it has been in the hospital. Levaquin 750 mg once daily, probiotics to mediate the effect of the Levaquin on the stomach, lots of sleep.

I'm pretty sure that the pneumonia is viral, not bacterial, because it has responded so slowly to three different antibiotics.  Nevertheless I'm taking the Levaquin, despite its risk to the Achilles tendon, in case it really is a virulent bacterium.

Right now my temp is generally around normal, which is a definite improvement, and I have some appetite.  However, blood oxygen isn't much better than it was when I called 911. I have my own pulse oximeter now, which normally would have me at 98 or 99%, but now typically shows low 90's, which means that my lungs are not yet working very well.

Time will tell.  More tomorrow, probably.

Feeling a Little Better

Still in the hospital.  My temperature seems to have stabilized near normal, I'm coughing a little less, and blood oxygen (without supplemental oxygen) is up in the 94% range.  However, pulse rate and respiration rate are unchanged and much higher than normal, so the jury is still out.

For the medically inclined:  I was started on a Z-Pak (azithromycin) Monday, then in the hospital they added a cephalosporin IV antibiotic Tuesday.  By today (Thursday) we didn't see much progress, so the hospital doctor finally talked me into oral Levaquin, dropping both of the others. That dose was this noon , so it's had only about nine hours to take effect, and obviously I don't know which antibiotic regimen might be working, if indeed anything really is working.

I'm nervous about Levaquin, because it's one of the drugs that can cause the Achilles tendon to rupture.  If that happens my running will be dramatically curtailed (zero).  However I finally agreed to Levaquin because I didn't see progress on the other meds, and I can live without running but I can't run without living.

As always, I'll know more in the morning.  I'm still alive and there is a little more light at the end of the tunnel.

Pneumonia Again

July 30, 2014

CRAP! Pneumonia certainly puts a crimp in marathon training. I have a marathon coming up in early september, with a good plan for ramping up carefully to a 20-mile long run three weeks ahead. That's what you do. Setting aside the obvious life-threatening aspect of pneumonia, however, at the very least it puts a big crimp in the training plan.

I've had pneumonia five times in my life now; three times it was viral, once bacterial (last February), and now as-yet undetermined. In February the high-power IV antibiotics took effect within a day, and got me out of the hospital in two days. This time I've been in and out for two days already, and there is little evidence of improvement. I still have a little fever, low pulse oxygen level, a high pulse rate, and a high respiration rate. If it's viral instead of bacterial, prevous experience suggests that the resolution will take weeks instead of days. Grrrr.

Maybe I should just stop whining and be glad I'm still alive. Eventually I will be running again, but that's not the top priority.

I'll know more in the morning. Perhaps the pneumonia will take a sudden turn for the better, or the doctors will try something different.