Pneumococcal pneumonia at home

This yr’s holiday season has not been without incident in our home. Illness has reared its ugly head, because it often does when excitement builds, and the events and preparations for the vacations keep us too busy to get enough rest and eat well. This yr, nonetheless, it was my husband who was at all-time low, not certainly one of our youngsters.

He had a cough for about every week and was drained, but despite my clinical assessment that he should rest, I “encouraged” him to assist with whatever else needed to be done before Christmas. On Christmas Day, he really didn’t look his best – high fever, chills, productive cough that gave the impression to be constant. He spent the evening in bed, taking ibuprofen across the clock to assist with the symptoms.

The next day, late within the morning, we called our primary care office and learned that it was closed for the vacation. We ended up going to the emergency department (ED) at our local hospital. Upon triage, he was found to be febrile, tachycardic, and hypoxic. He was given a dose of albuterol and quickly returned to the ED room. As we were discussing his medical and surgical history with the ED nurse, we each stopped and checked out one another when he told her that he had had a splenectomy when he was younger.

Oops – did we ignore the implications of not having a spleen and the necessity to seek help quickly for those who get sick? And didn’t I read something in regards to the risks of a splenectomy?

Shortly afterward, his test results got here back and his white blood cell count was 43,000. He spent 4 days within the hospital on intravenous antibiotics. His diagnosis? Pneumococcal pneumonia.

Yes, I recently read “something” and even put it on our beneficial reading list just a few weeks ago. Needless to say, I went back and skim it again:

Now all the things is positive. And next time I’ll tone down my “incentives” and do a greater job of assessing!