I was diagnosed with pneumonia and pleurisy in February. It took months, and a pulmonary embolism scare, to get over. Two lots of hefty antibiotics later I am "well" again, but getting used to life with new lungs.
I told him that I hadn't been given any antibiotics for my infection, and he checked my blood pressure, oxygen sats and ran an ECG. All abnormal, yet again. I went back to hospital, this time with a note from the doctor, which meant that I didn't have to wait to get through triage — a nurse called my name and sat me in a cubicle almost as soon as I sat down.
MRI and chest X-rays were repeated and I was given clot-busting drugs just in case an embolism had occurred, in the flesh of my stomach (which are super, super sore, by the way). Blood gases were taken again. (Those bruises have only just healed!) Turns out the infection hadn't gone. It'd gotten a little worse. So, I was sent back home with antibiotics, which were repeated again six weeks later, and I've had multiple chest X-rays since.
Pulmonary Embolism
My doctor still believes that although I had an infection, I also had a pulmonary embolism the first time I went to the hospital. This is where a clot travels from your leg and into your lung, causing sharp pain, coughing and shortness of breath, resulting in you coughing up blood. The ECG I'd had at the hospital was a classic embolism rhythm, apparently. My mum had had an embolism the year before. I'd just returned from flying two weeks prior. My family history was incredibly high risk for clotting and embolisms. Due to my age, however, and because my blood gases had come back with normal results at the hospital, ER doctors were stubborn to look for any other explanation for symptoms other than infection.
Not to mention that embolisms can move, disperse and break down, or, I could have coughed it up when I coughed up the blood — which would explain why no clot was appearing on the screen in my MRIs.
Three Months On
Before I had pneumonia, I could walk for miles. I'm not the healthiest or the fittest of folks, and I'm not a gym bunny, but I could go on lovely hikes and walks with my dog and not get out of breath. Now, I can't walk for more than 20 meters without getting out of breath. My lungs ache. They're scratchy. They almost feel itchy. It feels as though they are smaller than they used to be. I can't get as much breath into my lungs as I used to be able to, and it's been a long time since I went on a long walk or hike because I'm so afraid of my lungs failing me mid-journey.
I have to use blue inhalers (Salbutamol), which open up the airways and allow me to get oxygen into my lungs more easily. I have to see the thoracic team (the lung doctors) on a regular basis, and we're trying to figure out if I need to have inhalers daily, and if there is permanent scarring or damage to my lungs from the infection. All from a flight to Italy!
