Unexpected Hospital Stay

Hi All,

I am 54 years-old and have got SPMS.

I was admitted to hospital just over 2 weeks ago. A few hours earlier I was up and about and there was seemingly nothing wrong with me. But then I am told I went and laid upon my bed and would not wake up for anyone and was practically unconscious. My carer came and immediately called my GP, who was here quite quickly, he did a quick examination and then told me (I was awake by now) that I had pneumonia! I was stunned and quite upset, as I know someone who’s death certificate’s causes of death are Multiple Sclerosis and Pneumonia! I was whisked into hospital and then remember nothing of the next 2 days, as I was quite unconscious while they blasted me full of antibiotics. As well as the pneumonia, tests had shown that I had sepsis. For those of you not familiar with sepsis, I have pulled the following off the NHS Choices website:

By the way, the pneumonia and sepsis were proven to have been bought on by an infection from my supra-pubic catheter. Although it is changed every 4 weeks, as I am prone to UTI’s, the catheter that was in at the time was only just approaching 4 weeks old, so it was just one of those things. As my consultant said “any foreign object in the body of a fairly healthy person could introduce an infection. Unfortunately, someone with MS will probably find the chances of infection multiplied by at least 3 or 4 times”.

So as you can see, I was in a bad condition and it took about 10 days for everything to clear up. Though at home now I am struggling for energy much of the time and my left side (my weaker side since my MS has developed) is very sore and painful at times.

I am naturally relieved to have survived 2 life-threatening conditions and hope I am like a cat and have 7 left!

Thanks for reading this.

Dave

4 Likes

wow Dave you have had a difficult time,so happy you pulled through it will be a good few weeks till you have some strength back take it easy for a while.

Might be better to have the catheter changed at 3 weekly intervals and not 4 just till your body recovers from this.

Wishing you a happy and healthy Christmas big (((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))))))))

Barbara.xx

1 Like

Know how it feels, and I guess that Bonnie1 will as well

Some people would argue that MS will not kill you. This may be true unless it attacks the brainstem and knocks out the autonomic nervous system and you stop breathing. It does make it harder to avoid a;; the other problems.

Geoff

Oh my! What a frightening time you’ve had indeed! I have my spc changed every 5 weeks.

Many people have theirs changed at much longer intervals

Glad to hear you are OK now. Phew!

Pollx

So pleased you are recovering, sounds like a nightmare couple of weeks. I hope you are able to rest up and relax so you are the best you can be for Christmas.

Jan x

Hi Dave,

good to hear your on the mend, wot a shock!! thanks to the big fella that your carer was on hand. thats pretty scary (sorry) very scary situation.

i’ve just woken from another damed panick attack! how do i get to sleep now??

have a good christmas & an even better rest

julien

Hi Dave, sorry to hear you have had such a scare,i hope you get some strength back soon.

wishing you all the best for xmas and the new year too.

J x