Teddy’s Story                                                    

My independent Ways                                                                                    

I haven’t always believed in going to doctors. I made it to age 51 and I didn’t focus on taking care of myself. I worked as an attorney in New York City and helped care for my elderly mom at home. Last year, around Thanksgiving, I started to cough. Really, I didn’t think that much about it. The coughing didn’t seem that bad to me so I never went to a doctor.  But the coughing did not go away and it continued straight through the holidays.

Medical Emergency

 One morning in mid-January, I woke up and there were two EMTs at my bedside.  My mom’s home health aides had called 911. Apparently, I looked in pretty bad shape.  They took me by ambulance to the hospital.  I was thinking it was a little dramatic since the hospital was only a block away. But when we got there, they diagnosed me with bacterial pneumonia. The infection had gotten so bad that gangrene had started to develop in my lungs.  Surgery was ruled out because I was underweight. The doctors needed to treat me with intravenous antibiotics.  While in the hospital I also had a minor stroke, likely coming from either a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or sepsis/septic shock as the bacteria had entered my blood stream within a week of my hospital admittance.

I was in the hospital from January 13 to March 16, two months. While the first month was mostly a blur, after waking up, I started to learn things— like my blood pressure was high and the bacterial infection had also shot up my white blood cell count sky high. 

After Hospital Discharge

After getting released from the hospital I still needed rehab. I was weak and in a wheelchair, graduating to a walker, and at the four-month mark I’m using a cane.  My firm laid me off after I was discharged from the hospital. I guess I just didn’t have the wherewithal to keep in touch and explain that I’d need more time off as I focused all of my attention on recovering from my illness and overseeing my mother’s care.  Fortunately, I’m continuing to improve. I’m gaining weight and can now start thinking about the future again.  Let’s face it, I’m lucky to be alive.

My Message About My Story

Taking care of yourself turns out to be a smart way to avoid a catastrophic experience.  Now, not only am I listening to my body and going to the doctor. Now I’m all in for prevention. I plan on getting my pneumonia shot and annual flu shot as well as my shingles shot. These seem like just basic things I can do to avoid getting sick and possibly ending up in the hospital again.  If even one person reads my story and decides it’s worth it to get a vaccine, that would be awesome.

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