Screeching Halt

This time last week I was in A&E at Charing Cross Hospital. During the night I had started coughing and once there was blood in it, I knew I was in trouble. So off to the ED we went with the hope it wasn't anything too serious, and I could continue on with the treatment once the doctors had figured out what was wrong. In all honesty, I knew it was unlikely I was going to be able to continue with the treatment. 

I had been feeling pretty good up until this stage and was pleased with my progression through the treatment. 

After a few hours in ED room 8 I was transferred over to the Acute Awareness Unit. I was being admitted and my treatment was being stopped. I was met there by Doctor Thomas and after having a quick discussion, taken to my room. 

The blood tests which had been done in the Emergency Department had already loaded on to my records, which I have access to. PatientKnowsBest  This is a great tool and means I have immediate access to my records. But I had to show Dr Thomas my lymphocyte count, which was already 0. However, the result from my chest x-ray had come back and he said it looked like an Upper respiratory infection. Great. There goes treatment.

I was admitted and administered with pills galore. Not only the medication I had been taking with the Lemtrada treatment, but also another three types including penicillin. So there's now antiviral, antibacterial and two antibiotics. 

They finally concluded I had pneumonia, but also need to see a speech and language therapist to figure out why i don't swallow properly. Well, I do, I just sometimes choke on my own saliva. I was discharged with promises I will go back if I get any worse, and see the therapist. 

The problem is with this, is even with all the drugs, my immune system is unable to fight it. The medication needs to do ALL the work. Which means it's going to take a bit longer to recover from this than usual. 

I  have now been home for five days and spent a lot of the time sleeping and binge watching TV. This was already expected from the infusion but I may not be as bad as I would have been if I had completed the five days. I won't be able to continue on with it, until the pneumonia clears up and I am healthy again. I haven't been able to speak to the MS clinic yet to figure out what next. And if I need to start from scratch. I hope since my lymphocytes were at 0 when all this started it's actually going to have a good outcome. But only they can tell me this. 

 I don't feel sick and I don't look sick apparently. But I am still sick and need to stay away from any possible risks of infection from anything else. I am on rest this week, which I am doing. I need to recover from this and find out what next. But I am good. I was devastated last week, but I am okay now. I only hope I can keep infections at bay and recover from the pneumonia quickly.