Ouch! I bet you're typing all of this from the comfort of your BED, right, Pat? LOL Don't worry, I won't tell on you. :) I know what you mean about letting the plants alone for a bit. I'm always surprised, when I come home after a weekend away, that the plants have managed without me (and even seemed to thrive a little more, as if to say, "Leave us be! We're fine without you, lady!"). I worry about them as I would a teenager left alone. Although trust is good, mothering must be better! :D Take care of yourself, Pat! Hope you feel better soon! Brenda

Ask the Dr. to do a Petscan which is much better and more through that a CT. It is done with radioactivity and shows up way more that anyother scan. DH just had one done to see if there is any active cancer at this time. Results back within a week and thankfully all is clear at this time. Our Dr always cultures anything involving breathing tests. Since he is allgeric to prednisone he has to take other drugs. But then because of his medical conditions, he had another pneumonia shot, only this was a double shot with something else included to discourage cold, flue and pneumonia. I asked the Dr what was in it, but he did not give me an answer, he only said a good lung doc should know how to combine shots, depending on the person's health.

Hey! Me too! I've never had pneumonia before, but have had chronic sinutitis and asthma for 30 years. Ten days ago I was coughing so hard that I went to a doctor here on Maui. At that moment I had no fever. She lent me a nebulizer and gave me a prescription for the albuterol to use in it, plus one for prednisone. (60 mg for three days; 40 for three; twenty for three.) That night I ran a fever -- back to the office next morning with 101.7. Now I got a prescription for Biactin. Cough continues without producing anything. Call to office results in a cough syrup -- but not the right one as it turned out; needed something stronger (with hydrocodone). Neulizer does zip for me. Back to the MD. Chest X-ray. Diagnosis bacterial pneumonia. Pushed up the tapering prednisone again to 60 mg and added an albuterol inhaler. Finally this morning I was able to bring up a little of the yuck in my lungs. Light at the end of the tunnel? No, DH comes down with heavy chest cold and is a lump on the sofa -- no fever, just weary. We go to Honolulu Mar. 1 to catch Mar. 2 flight to Chicago. I still have to pack up stuff in owner's storage before our regular March guests arrive. Any Get-Well tips gratefully received. (No hitting, though.)

I had a case of 'walking pneumonia' when I was a young healthy 19 yr old. I was living alone renting a room over a store, working a job, and attending college in a work/school coop program. I knew that something was amiss in my lung area, but being a young squirt with little cash, I thought I could tough it out and that it would get better, like a cold or flu. That did not happen. When I bent over while playing ping pong, I felt like something was loose around the bottom of my lung. After ice skating on a park pond, I walked to my room and went to bed. A 4 am, I awoke with an awful pain in my chest, became nauseous, and had difficulty breathing. I sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over because that seemed to be the most comfortable position. I sought medical help as soon as business opened that morning. The verdict: pneumonia and lung collapse. I could have died. The bottom lobe of one lung had collapsed and 1/3 of the other lung had a partial collapse. The Doc shot my rump with a double dose of penicillin and ordered me to go to a hospital. I rode a Greyhound Bus back to my hometown where my parents lived and entered was hospitalized. I was there 3 days while they monitored my lung because if the lung did not refill and re-attach, surgery would be needed. After 3 days, I was sent home with a week's amount of pills and was told to lie around, do no heavy work, and periodically perform a lung exercise to aid re-inflation. I wondered why I was so groggy and sleepy much of the time. I did a lot of daytime napping and that was not normal for me. It worried me a bit and made me wonder how long it was going to take to get better and regain some pep. After a week, I took the last of a little white pill - and then I woke up! It had been a sleeping pill. The label did not identify it as such. Among other pills, the Doc had given me sleeping pills to insure that I did not feel like going outside for activities. My advice: If you got pneumonia, do not mess around. Get medical help. It is too dangerous and your lungs could be damaged beyond repair.