Newly diagnosed legionnaire’s disease

[Tami39]

Hi all- I’m grateful to have found this site. Your experiences are informative and encouraging. My father’s symptoms began (cough, shortness of breath, weakness, diarrhea) this past Thursday April 12, 2018 and he was admitted to the hospital on Sunday April 15th. He was diagnosed with LD today (April 16th) was put on a ventilator and sedated with propofal. My initial reaction was relief that the doctors’ made a diagnosis and are aggressively treating the pneumonia with antibiotics. But through research and reading your stories, I now understand the severity of this disease and that he likely has quite a journey ahead. The doctors say it was caught early, I hope that helps him to come through this. I am hopeful for his recovery. They just returned from a trip last Wednesday celebrating my mom’s birthday (we think the bacteria may have been in the hotel or air vent on the plane) Any guidance or stories about ICU experiences and recovery process are greatly appreciated. I haven’t shared most of what I’ve learned with my mom yet, as I don’t want her to worry. We thought he might be home in a few days. That now seems very unlikely. Thanks for your support.

[Sepsur]

I hope your father improves soon. I spent some time in ICU, at first they thought I had legionnaires - it was a variety of similar other infections.

This is a great pdf booklet

icusteps.org/professionals/...

[Tami39 in reply to Sepsur]

Thank you for sharing this link 😊

[Tami39]

Health update 4/18/18: my dad now only requires 40% oxygen from the ventilator (down from 100%). His vitals are stable though blood pressure is low. He’s starting dialysis today (due to septic shock and kidney shutdown). His doctors want to reduce his Propofol dose, but he keeps trying to pull out the ventilator tube so they’re waiting. His daily chest x-rays show small signs of improvement. So I’m hopeful that his body is fighting the pneumonia and the antibiotics are working. He’s doing a lot of moving- feet, arms and trying to open his eyes. So I’m taking all of this as good signs! Does anyone have any incidents of improvement followed by a setback? This looks like recovery, but I know he’s not out of the woods so I’m still feeling very cautiously optimistic.

[Sepsur in reply to Tami39]

Yes, I overcame double pneumonia, flu, sepsis and multiple organ failure to turn a corner only to have severe ARDS to fight this off to then come down with CMV, VRE, MSSA & glandular fever and fight these off only to be diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia- waiting until I can have/need chemo.

My family went on a hell of a rollercoaster, as did I.

Just because that happened to me, does not mean that your father will be sent on such a song & dance.

This site is full of individuals that have defied the odds.

[Tami39 in reply to Sepsur]

Oh my, you’ve had quite a rollercoaster. You certainly have a strong system, keep on fighting! Thanks for sharing your experiences. I wish you well with your ongoing health journey 😊

[Tami39 in reply to Sepsur]

Oh my, you’ve had quite a rollercoaster. You certainly have a strong system, keep on fighting! Thanks for sharing your experiences. I wish you well with your ongoing health journey 😊