[JAR0023]

Did this last fall. Bacterial pneumonia and plourisy. Kicked my butt. Elderly neighbor had a tree fall down. Other neighbor and I spent Sunday afternoon cutting and clearing a large old Hickory. No telling what all I breathed in. Woke up Monday and felt like my back was sore. By lunch I knew something serious was going on. Was at my Doc's by mid afternoon. First words out of his mouth were, "You look like ****." At that point I could barely breath and if my torso was anything other that vertical I was in horrendous pain. X-rays came back positive. Doc asked me did I want a room at the hospital or wait a day. I took a couple of shots and left with Rx. (side note - I know my Doc well and he called multiple times daily to check on me.)

Overnight it scaled back from "I'm about die." to "God I feel awful." Then it just hung there for another week. Low grade fever off an on. Zero energy. More X-rays showed improvement but not enough. Second round of antibiotics and I started to feel decent around the three week mark. Took another three ro four weeks for all the fluid around my lung to absorb.

Spent three weeks sleeping upright in a chair. Spent another three or four weeks being able to feel the fluid surrounding my lung move around. About the two month mark I could take a deep breath without having a coughing fit. Eight months later and I still don't feel 100% but I'm almost there. Tried to spend time on the bike getting back into shape but have ended up indoors on an elliptical. -J