Tag: pneumonia

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Good news & less-than-good news

The really good news: today’s visit to urgent care did not result in a trip to the ER and admittance to the hospital.

In fact, all my vital signs were fine and the doctor wasn’t entirely convinced pneumonia was the current issue. So it might not be an official “relapse;” the chest x-ray results will tell us for sure.

The less-than-good news is that there’s no getting around the fact that I was fatigued, plus dealing with some unrelated symptoms (avoiding TMI here!), and have had to bow out of a number of fun and inspiring events.

Not. Good.

I do not want this sort of thing to become my ongoing reality.

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Bouncing back

My immune system took a real hit from the recent pneumonia infection, with a significant drop in my white blood count.

But the good news is I saw my oncologist today and those white blood cells have already bounced back practically to normal.

Actually, this is my dilemma. Other than some mild coughing, I don’t feel sick anymore. Yes, at the end of the day, I’m tired and more than happy to go to bed. But I don’t feel ill.

So, I have to keep reminding myself to take it easy, to go slow, to rest. After all, I certainly don’t want a relapse.

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Regenerating: a higher octave of truth

Artist Credit : Artist Credit : Natacha Chohra

I found this poem before being diagnosed with pneumonia and forced to a rather screeching halt. Now I see this as my current higher octave of truth.

REGENERATING
I don’t think you’re simply tired,
I think you’re regenerating.
Like all of mother nature’s children in winter, your instinct is to curl up, hunker down and reset.
You’re not less.
You’re simply in tune with the sun.
And as the dark days begin to wane, your inner wild fortifies and evolves, bolstered and renewed, cocoon-style.
Ready for the new beginnings, ready for the reinvent.
Ready.
Simply ready.
So, let yourself be led down the rabbit hole, when the weariness washes over and your body begs to rest.
I don’t think you’re simply tired.
I think you’re regenerating.
— Donna Ashworth

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From urgent care to ER and beyond

Well! Was I totally off base or what?!?

Turns out I couldn’t nip things in the bud because they weren’t little things. Nope, these are big things — as in pneumonia and atrial fibrillation and electrolytes all out of whack.

Bottom line? Instead of it being the day to feel completely normal again, I get to spend a couple of nights in the hospital!