Pneumonia

This is actually a picture from a year ago on Bishop's Beach in Homer.

Life as I knew it came to a screeching halt last week.  On Monday I was at work and started feeling like I was getting a fever.  By the end of the day I was chilling and aching all over.  I didn't stay to finish up my charting.  I knew I had to get home, and I went straight to bed.  I took it a day at a time, thinking I had a virus that had been going through our family.  My right kidney hurt, but it hurts every night since last January - I figured the fever was just settling there.  By Thursday I was totally miserable, coughing, fever 103, not thinking straight, short of breath.  I went to see my colleague at work, Dr F.  He wanted to put me in the hospital with the diagnosis of pyelonephritis.  I wasn't convinced of the diagnosis, but was willing to be treated for it as an outpatient.  The next day I wasn't really improving, but I didn't want to go in the hospital.  I decided to take another antibiotic I had at home in addition to the cipro that Dr F gave me.  It started helping.  I called another colleague and asked her to order some tests - including a chest x ray - and asked for an inhaler and a different antibiotic (I didn't have enough of the second one I'd added).  The chest xray showed left lobe pneumonia.  The new antibiotic was doing the trick by Sunday.  No fevers since Monday.  I hope to return to work tomorrow.