Looking great at 88, despite
a bout with the
flu and pneumonia

'Well' -- it's a new year's resolution
Before, during and after the holidays, the operative word in my family was “sick.” First, my granddaughter came down with the flu and, later, croup. Then I got the flu on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, my daughter in Italy, along with my brother and sister-in-law in northern Michigan, all came down with bronchial infections. Then my 88-year-old mother caught the flu, followed by pneumonia. She’s been recovering with me ever since.

It’s especially challenging living an hour away from my mother’s home and her doctors. At first, she thought a Sunday visit to urgent care near her home and an antibiotic prescription would be enough. But when she continued to get more congested, I continued to get more worried and brought her to my home.

Another visit to urgent care resulted in another antibiotic. Then, when she started shaking with chills, followed by a fever, we made a 3 a.m. dash to a hospital emergency room, where they formally diagnosed the flu and changed her antibiotic again.

As her cough worsened, I decided we needed to revisit the emergency room, where, with a third chest x-ray, a spot of pneumonia was detected. This time, she was admitted to the hospital, which was so full that she wound up in a joint rehabilitation unit. The main bed and chair in the room had alarms on them to prevent a fall from a joint replacement.

After two days of excellent nursing, cuisine fit for a hotel and some reviving IVs, she was discharged with a strong antibiotic, inhaler and steroid to knock the pneumonia out. Only problem was that the inhaler made her head sweat. And then she got pressure in her chest which resulted in a call for paramedics. Once they determined her vital signs were not concerning I called her hospital doctor and we mutually agreed to remove the steroid. Voila – no more pressure.

I have made so many trips to my neighborhood pharmacy that the pharmacists recognize me and are always willing to discuss drug interactions and the best cough medicines – suppressant or expectorant?

Now, after a visit to her primary care physician back home (and a quick take down of her outdoor holiday decorations by me), she is on the mend. She is taking yet another antibiotic to address the cough, catching up on much needed sleep and eating better. She goes with me to babysit my granddaughter in the afternoon and has helped me shove furniture around as I do some housebound-fueled room rearranging. And, she was most happy to get a permanent.

So now we are all using hand sanitizer and trying to avoid coughers and sneezers. It has got to be a happier new year, come February.