Work at Home Mom talks about Pneumonia

The work at home mom is all well and back home.

I was discharged on tuesday after responding well to 3 days of pneumonia treatment. Before this, I never had any understanding of what pneumonia is but now, my knowledge about the disease has been enriched. Alot of people, like me, have little or no knowledge of pneumonia. And because many people here in Msia died of H1N1 with underlying illness including pneumonia, they think all pneumonia patients have H1N1. This is not true at all.

The H1N1 virus attacks the lung cells directly so it is easy to have lung infection once you are infected by the virus. Lung infection means pneumonia so this explains why most patients who died of H1N1 had pneumonia and usually the severe kind.

Pneumonia can be treated by most antibiotics unless it is viral pneumonia. The common pneumonia is said to be bacteria pneumonia. Pneumonia itself is not contagious but the cold virus is. I can sense that some friends of mine were very cautious about talking to me, even though I'm well and cured. What they do not know is that their cold or flu virus is more contagious.

With the current H1N1 pandemic, it is normal to feel a little worried when someone you know is sick. The problem is, the virus can be caught in our environment. In other words, the person next to you in the shopping mall, the person sharing the same lift as you, the person who serves you your favourite char kway teow every day can be carrying the virus. At the end of the day, it's the immune system that determines how your body can fight the disease or virus.

So, promote good hygiene at home or work by washing your hands with soap and water. Carry anti bacteria gel or wipes with you if you have little children with you. They are prone to viruses and these wipes are helpful.

I am thankful to detect pneumonia early and within a day, the fever and pain was gone. I can never be more grateful to God than this. It looks like I will be treated like an alien by some friends when I attend the wedding tomorrow. I'll try not to talk to anyone in order to calm their anxieties....

And yes, the work at home mom is all well again. Thank you for all your concern. God bless.