My dear readers, I apologize for not reaching out to friends individually like I normally would, but I don’t have the luxury of time, and since already posted a comment at ‘s post this morning, I figured it would be simplest to just share my reply (below).
In short, my mom was diagnosed yesterday with pseudomonas, a life-threatening lung infection, which is even more dangerous for her because she has lupus. Her pulmonologist wanted to immediately start her on Cipro, an extremely potent antibiotic with a terrifying safety profile. I happened to be messaging with TriTorch when I received this news, hence his being alerted in real-time to what was occurring.
I catapulted into action to advocate for my mom and conduct research to ensure we choose the best course of action. I had already been up for over 24 hours, and it was 29 hours by the time I finally got to bed last night. I did get a good night’s sleep, thankfully. My mom and I have decided on a plan of action, which I shared in the extensive comment below.
I want to thank each of you for your phenomenal kindness and support as I grieve the loss of my beloved Michael (margaretannaalice.subst… • margaretannaalice.subst… • margaretannaalice.subst… • margaretannaalice.subst…) and am now undergoing this new challenge with my mother. Please forgive me in advance if I am unable to reply to comments, Notes, emails, messages, etc. as I care for her over the next couple of weeks.
Warmest gratitude and love,
MAA
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Thank you so, so much, TriTorch, for your extraordinary support and devastatingly beautiful words. I just read your poignant comment and the replies and am sobbing with gratitude to you and the rest of the C&C family 😭
I wanted to update everyone here on the latest as well as providing some additional details for context.
My mom has had a chronic cough for around six months. She thought it was allergies at first, then when it persisted, she thought maybe it was bronchitis. I kept needling her to make a doctor’s appointment so we could make sure it wasn’t serious, but then she’d start feeling better for a day or two, so she kept thinking it was just a chest cold or something that would go away on its own.
It didn’t, and it continued worsening, so she finally made a doctor’s appointment. The x-ray showed lung inflammation, so they did a CT scan. The good news is they ruled out cancer, which was our biggest concern. They still didn’t know what it was and thought maybe it was atypical bronchitis. This didn’t sound right to me because her symptoms are not ever-present. She does okay in the mornings, but then she starts having coughing fits in the afternoons and evenings. I knew there was something more serious and unusual going on.
Thankfully, she was able to get a pulmonologist’s appointment quickly due to a cancellation. He then scheduled her for a bronchoscopy on Monday. Yesterday, we received the results.
She has a pseudomonas infection, which her doctor described as extremely serious, and he wanted her to start on antibiotics immediately.
Pseudomonas can be life-threatening for anyone, but it’s particularly dangerous for her because she has lupus.
The pulmonologist wanted to prescribe Levofloxacin, but my mom had a severe reaction to just one pill of that previously, so that option is out. The next best option, he said, is Ciprofloxacin (Cipro).
I was extremely concerned about this choice because it has a horrible safety profile, and I have heard about numerous severe reactions to it. I called her pulmonologist’s office to express my concerns and find an alternative antibiotic with a better safety profile.
Unfortunately, he said if she doesn’t tolerate the Cipro, she would have to be hospitalized for a week while receiving intravenous injections of an antibiotic.
This was not a viable option, either, because hospitals are so dangerous, and I didn’t want her to get hospicided! Plus, he couldn’t even tell me in advance which antibiotic they would put her on because that decision would be made at the time of admission by the hospitalist, so she could just as well end up on Cipro there (when I asked about this possibility, I was told they may still use it but combine it with Benadryl if she has a reaction; this sounded like a potential nightmare of mushrooming drugs to treat cascading side effects, so I want to avoid this scenario if at all possible).
I researched all of the other antibiotics typically prescribed for this condition, and they all have horrendous potential side effects. This is such a severe infection (often antibiotic-resistant), it requires the most powerful antibiotics available, and those inevitably come with great risks.
The greater risk, however, is leaving the infection untreated as it could easily be fatal, and it clearly was not going away on its own.
So we had a Hobson’s choice and felt the only viable option was to proceed with the Cipro prescription and just hope everything goes smoothly and she doesn’t suffer severe side effects.
I did not want her to be alone while on Cipro, however, so we decided to have her stay with me during the 10-day course of treatment. That way, I can continually monitor her, and if she does have a dangerous reaction, I can get her to the hospital ASAP and pursue the IV administration as Plan B. (I pray that won’t be necessary, but if it is, I will be studying Jeff’s hospital guide! coffeeandcovid.com/p/ki…)
Her insurance requires her to use Walgreens, which is notoriously understaffed, so they haven’t even filled the prescription after nearly 24 hours.
This is actually helpful, though, because it gives us a day to prepare for my mom’s stay. I just got over a head cold, fever, and sore throat (the first time I’ve had anything like a cold or flu in over 20 years; thankfully, I had ivermectin on hand as well as an arsenal of supplements, so I followed the FLCCC protocol for flu along with my own additions and recovered within a week), so I need to change the sheets and clean as much as possible.
I am also going to make bone broth, turkey breast, and turkey soup to aid with her healing, so I have a lot of cooking and cleaning to do before she arrives!
Once we had a plan of action in place, we both felt better. I still have concerns about Cipro and wanted to make sure this was the best course of action, so I consulted a natural pharmacist friend and the husband of a longtime friend. We just happened to have met in person last week and had struck up a correspondence because we learned we have a shared passion for not only health but also the COVID injection harms (thanks to our mutual friend, Bill Kauth, for raving to him about my Substack; Bill attended Michael’s service, and I talked about him and share a pic of us in the eulogy post: coffeeandcovid.com/p/ki…). I decided to consult him because I know he is knowledgeable about Big Pharma corruption, the dangers of most drugs, and natural alternatives. He agreed with our decision and said it is very important for her to start on antibiotics because pseudomonas is such a dangerous infection. He also recommended she take Dr. Ohhira’s probiotics, which he has published papers on and considers the best probiotic in the world. Even though he and his wife were about to hop on a plane this morning to visit their family for Christmas, he took the time to mail a box of those probiotics to me (at no expense) before they departed. He also provided instructions and offered to do a Facetime once they arrive so he can walk us through the process (need to make sure they’re not in the stomach at the same time as the antibiotics, etc.). That should protect her gut health while she takes the Cipro and help her recover afterward. Having that as well as his availability to advise us gives additional comfort during this experience.
Apologies for the lengthy post, but since everyone here was so exceptionally kind and supportive, I wanted to give you the full picture and let you know things are progressing as well as possible under the circumstances.
We have many blessings to count, including:
1) we finally know the cause of her cough;
2) she doesn’t have cancer;
3) it is treatable;
4) 10 days on antibiotics isn’t as bad as the year and a half on antibiotics she was warned about if it was another kind of infection they had feared;
5) it will be gone in a couple of weeks if all goes to plan;
6) the best probiotics in the world and availability of one of the best natural pharmacists in the world (I would name him but don’t want to do so without his permission; I did encourage him to join Substack to share his life-saving knowledge, though, and will introduce him later when he gives the okay and is ready); and
7) the prayers, love, and support of the C&C community and countless friends, readers, and other compassionate individuals around the world 🙏
Thank you, everyone, for your amazingly wonderful support, and please excuse my relative unavailability in the coming days in advance. And now, I need to get busy cooking and cleaning!
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See original C&C comment thread for additional details and replies:
