Well I actually thought for a moment I was getting better at home. Then I started having to retreat to my bed earlier and earlier from my big living room excursion. Then getting into my wheelchair started getting me breathless. Fever spiked every day. We all knew something was wrong just didn’t know the best course of action. I had set up a video call with my primary doctor which seemed to prove pointless but actually ended up starting the ball rolling. She tried to contact my neurologist in NYC that got back to her the next day. I was emailing her but still more on my MS status and Kesimpta shot more than anything. She called me Wednesday morning saying if you are having all these issues it’s bad but you are spiking a fever, something is very wrong. She was the one who said that I need the hospital. So the decision was finally made.

I called the ambulance and was once again taken to the ER. I knew I had a fever, I knew I wasn’t feeling good but I didn’t expect to be as sick as I was. I had a pneumonia. I had it in the top and bottom of my right lung and the top of the left lung. My fever climbed to 103.5. I was sick!!! However the ER of the hospital is the worst. I was in a room in the back corner of the ER space and it was very busy. There were a lot of nurses around but i was still slightly ignored. I’m having terrible chills along with a very dry mouth. I also got very congested from the dry air in the hospital I suddenly can’t breathe through my nose and I start coughing. Whatever I was coughing came partly up and blocked my airway. I started chocking. In the small out of the way room, I’m alone. I couldn’t catch my breath. Luckily a man walked by, saw me trying desperately to reach my pocketbook just out of my reach. He handed me my bag. In the middle of wheezing and coughing I found my Affrin and sprayed it in my nose. I was able to open up the congestion immediately and breathe. Tears were streaming down my face. My heart rate must have been through the roof but I threw off the finger monitor during all this. Being as sick as I was I didn’t have the strength to press the call button. I tried to do it on the bed my head, couldn’t get it to work. By now I was breathing but so shaken. When the nurse came in her exact words were put on your mask. I said I’m sorry I just was chocking. She said put on your mask and stop taking the finger monitor off as she walked out. I have the upmost respect for nurses, I really do. I was still sitting there with tears coming down my face. Other than blankets or water I asked for nothing in the 4 hours I was there, I thought that was a little unsympathetic. Unfortunately I had a second episode of chocking but it wasn’t as bad as the first. Finally, medication including the very long overdue Tylenol kicked in and I started feeling a little better.

I was finally admitted into the hospital later that night. I had the same infectious disease doctor as the first visit although he was much better this time. My primary doctor was so much better plus he got a pulmonologist added to the team. The infection disease doctor did swabs to determine the type of infection I had and the pulmonologist added a second antibiotic to my rotation. I had a MRSA type virus needed a stronger medication. It took a couple of days but by Saturday I finally started feeling a little better. It was the first day I didn’t run a fever. Hopefully my next X-ray looks good and I might be able to go home with oral antibiotics. I didn’t realize how sick I really was until actually Sunday when I really first felt stronger.

Within 6 months of taking Kesimpta, I’ve had 3 possibly 4 uti’s, covid and a pneumonia. The pneumonia was NOT covid related. It was more MS and my fears coming true. I didn’t have the strength in my chest muscles to cough up and out the junk in my chest. It sat there for weeks when I went to that horrible rehab and then home. It turned into pneumonia. In the hospital besides the antibiotics, I also had a nebulizer treatment and a chest physiotherapy vest to vibrate the stuff in the chest. Both treatments also very key to getting better. The infection disease doctor recommended I get one of those vests for myself at home. I have definitely learned the benefits of that for someone like me so have to check it out. Hopefully going home today or tomorrow. I still have to remember to keep my expectations realistic that my MS legs will still need time to restrengthen. I don’t want anymore dark clouds over my bed. I’m just looking forward to going home.