September 16, 2016 (Friday)
When it was announced that Hillary Clinton has been diagnosed with pneumonia, the news caught my ear, because pneumonia was the illness that took the life of my wife, Wanda, in 2002.
Wanda had cancer surgery in 1979 and the prognosis was grim. She was not expected to live very long. Ten years later she was examined and found to be cancer-free. But pneumonia was a more formidable disease.
There are five types of pneumonia, and more than 30 causes of it. If the patient has other health problems, and Wanda had several, the situation becomes much more complicated.
Evidently Mrs. Clinton has been able to “power through” such an illness and believes she can do the same this time. But we all need to remember that pneumonia can be a life-threatening condition. New methods of treatment have been introduced, but patients must be aware of how serious this illness can become.
In Wanda’s case, the attack came suddenly in winter, and put her in the intensive care unit of the hospital immediately. After facing imminent death within hours, new treatments were tried and seemed to produce some success. After a month in the hospital, her pulmonologist signed off the case, hoping for her full recovery. But he warned that any type of infection could prove fatal. On Friday, she was almost back to her normal self. On Saturday she was very ill. On Sunday she died.
Keeping in mind that pneumonia is not the same for everyone, and that there are several types with many causes, one should seek medical attention if any of the symptoms appear. Vaccines are available for some types of pneumonia.
