Going in for a Cat Scan today.

[Shardik]

I've been coughing blood for two weeks and was diagnosed with bronchitis at the first ER I went to, My MD then took other Xrays and declared it pneumonia two days later.

There used to be a time when pneumonia would send you to a hospital for a stay, but today, they have sent me home with over $400.00 worth of high end antibiotics and instructions to go to the emergency room (where they called it bronchitis) if I have trouble breathing.

I've been a very healthy person most of my life and have paid 10's of thousands into various insurance programs. Somehow I feel I'm being shuffled from one place to another in an effort to save my insurance company money rather than find out what is happening in my body.

I have to ask why it is so fucking hard to get a proper diagnosis in America today when one is supposedly well insured?

God, if America has the "best health care in the world" I would hate to see what our neighbors in Canada, France, England, Cuba and Scandinavia have to put up with.

[Occam Bandage]

1. Good luck, godspeed, and pray for single-payer. nt

[Shardik]

3. Thanks, Occam B

From your keyboard to God's ear.

[Lars39]

2. Goodness, Shardik!

Hope you get to feeling better soon. :hug:
My daughter had double pneumonia a few yrs ago...they didn't hospitalize her because her white blood cell counts weren't quite high enough. They could have still put her in there, but they didn't want to expose her to anything worse in her weakened condition. Crazy, isn't it?

[Shardik]

10. Thank you so much.

I'm hoping this will help with the diagnosis. It still strikes me as odd that blood in the sputum did not raise more flags than it did with the health care providers that I initially contacted.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. My friend, maybe we could write letters on your behalf to someone regarding this?

Please let us know if any of us can call, write or e-mail someone or some entity or politicians, to get the ball rolling and get you treated once and for all.

I'm hoping and wishing that they help you and your health improves.

Blessings to you!:loveya:

[NEOhiodemocrat]

5. please take care

be sure to keep at the doctors if you feel that the diagnosis is not right. If you don't start improving, be an advocate for your own health. I really think that we are getting very little value for our health insurance in this country anymore. A young friend of ours (31) has been in the hospital two times for a fairly nasty type of pneumonia. He got fired from his job after the second time. What is this country coming to? I hope you get some resolution of your illness soon. Will be thinking good thought for your recovery. Please let us know how everything comes out.

[HereSince1628]

6. Best wishes for a solid diagnosis, effective treatment and non-eventful recovery.

[auntAgonist]

7. best wishes Shardik. I hope everything goes well. n/t

[NC_Nurse]

8. I hope the CT shows something. It's probably good that you're at home, as

weird as that might seem. Hospitals are appropriate only if you have to be monitored closely.
The risk of picking up another infection is not worth it if you can stay at home. The new superbugs like C-diff and MRSA
are pretty scary.

Good luck today. I hope you get over this in a hurry! :hug:

[Dappleganger]

9. Having dealt with pneumonia and bronchitis multiple times

along with asthma complications, both for myself and our asthmatic children, this is what you need to know:

Sleep as much as possible, stay well-hydrated with clear liquids. Gatorade is a great choice.
No milk products whatsoever.
Ask your doctor to give you a prescription for a nebulizing machine and nebulizer meds for your lungs. You'll want to have regular neb treatments using albuterol or whatever the doctor recommends. Do this even in the middle of the night for the first few days. Doing this always makes a HUGE difference in clearing the lungs.
Steroids--namely, prednisone. This will attack the swelling in your bronchial tubes and always makes a big difference.
Antibiotics alone won't kick pnuemonia--you have to have steroids too.

Avoid extreme hot/cold temperature swings.

Even when you begin to feel better, don't stop the neb treatments, hydration or rest. Pneumonia can creep back very quickly and then you could end up even more compromised than before.

SOME pnuemonia is contagious, so make sure your family is watched and stays away from close contact. We had this happen twice where two kids kept passing it back and forth to each other, subsequently missing about 2 months of school (and one had two hospital stays). NOT good.

Do everything possible to stay out of the ER because of the illnesses there. Try to see a doctor who has access to x-rays on site.

Hope you feel better soon!

[Shardik]

13. Thank you, and thank you all to those who have replied to the OP.

That sounds like good advice, Dappleganger. Of course, at this point, I have everything running around in my head from the best outcome to the worst outcome. It's times like this I really hate the internet. :)

[Klukie]

11. My best advice is to push them.....

Educate yourself and demand better answers. My 35 year old non-smoking husband had pneumonia in October and January. The January episode gave them reason to suspect a problem , so they did a CT scan and determined that he has a mass in his lung. It turns out it is a carcinoid tumor and he has to have part of his lung removed next week. I pushed the shit out of them by asking as many questions as possible and demanding additional testing. It sounds like your CT scan is a step in the right direction. I hope everything is okay.

[Vinca]

12. I'm old enough to remember the day when people in your condition

were hospitalized for several days. Not any more. If they could get away with outpatient neurosurgery, they probably would. Now that I think of it, maybe they do. Good luck. I hope it turns out okay.

[Dappleganger]

17. I've had numerous hospital stays

and have dealt with having family in there many, many times. The hospital is a BAD place to be if you are sick unless it's a life/death situation. Infections from the hospital are rampant and quickly make a sick person MUCH worse than before. STaying at home under a doctor's care is definitely preferable.

[Shardik]

18. I tend to agree.

I just hope I can keep up the home stay paradigm.

[Vinca]

19. LOL - I'm so old I remember when hospitals were clean. nt

[kstewart33]

14. What is it with bronchitis?

Everyone I know who's had it once, always ends up having it again, and again.

Good luck, and we have very far from the best health care in the world.

[mecherosegarden]

15. Good Luck

and Godspeed for a safe and fast recovery and as my mom would say, " a lot of chicken soup, a lot of rest, keep warm and... do not drink cold water, or anything cold for that matter." Seriously, I hope you feel better and the doctors find what is wrong.

[Shardik]

16. Thanks.

Sounds like good advice to me.

I'm going to nap now b4 I go to the Cscan place.

[emilyg]

20. Please let us know outcome.

[Shardik]

21. I'll find out tomorrow morning.

Kinda nervous now. :)