Aspirational Pneumonia

Hi friends and welcome to all of the new people in the group. Well as some of you recall I had c5 - c7 fused a little over a month ago. well shortly after the hard brace came off, I developed pneumonia. My PCP thinks it might be be aspirational pneumonia, the ER doc thinks it is viral. Either way they both agree that it is pneumonia. My question to all of you wonderful folks is have any of you suffered from aspirational pneumonia? Is it different from regular pneumonia?

I get another chest X-ray tomorrow to see if it has cleared up and on Friday I have a Barium Swallow to see if I am aspirating. My wife has found links between aspirational pneumonia and CM.

The one thing that is consistent is that throughout the day may breathing becomes more and more labored until I put my CPAP on. The asthma inhaler even with spacer does not do any good, the meds for the pneumonia didn't seem to effect anything. I feel like a puppy chasing my tail with this pneumonia.

Also thanks to the fusion I have dropped approx 30 - 35 pounds in a month. I can see my toes again, just kidding but this is another item that has my PCP rather concerned. Too much weight lost and too fast.

Finally, I found out how to send info to Dr. Tew in Cincy, OH. I will be sending information to him dependent upon how the next NS appointment goes.

Take care all and hopefully you are pain free.

Mike

Mike,

I really hope you feel better. When you aspirate & get pneumonia, it can take longer to treat. Basically what you aspirate is heavier than just infected fluid in regular pneumonia. Plus you are still fighting an infection. Definitely do everything your Dr. tells you. If it gets harder for you to breathe call your dr or go to the ER. It will take a few days for you to feel any better. What type of asthma inhaler did they give you? Steroid or Emergency(albuteral)? They work different. Also, keep track of your temperature. I would say congratulations about loosing 35 lbs, but I hate you are sick. Please let us know how you are doing !!! Also I hope your wife & baby & beautiful daughters are all doing ok.

Feel Better,

Tracy Z.