Did you recently go on holiday, came back and got sick? welcome to the club.
How it started
As many professionals, the one thing we look forward to during the summer is a nice tropical holiday destination. Luckily for me, this year we went to Portugal. We visited such nice places like Lisbon, Porto, Aveiro and Coimbra. Two weeks of beautiful weather (although sometimes it felt like a sauna) and a full glass of Port/wine to watch the sunset and eat it with COD. In those two weeks, I did not see anyone sick, of course, there are the occasional people who cough without covering their mouth (plz schools lets teach more etiquette and manners). Yet, two days after the trip ended, it began. The fever, the shivering, the coughing and the feeling like absolutely s*it.
Always check with the doctor
Once I started to feel very sick and a weird chest pain whenever I would cough, I knew, that it was not a regular cough. I woke up the next day with a fever of 42 degrees, heart rate of 145, feeling so tired. I just knew, I had to call the doctor (which is not common for many dutchies). Thankfully, once I called and explained my symptoms they asked me to come right away, an hour after I called. I went in there and the doc checked my breathing to hear, oxygen levels, and before I could sit down, I heard it, the dreadful “It is just pneumonia”. My heart sank. I always used to read news that some people can die from this, especially those with asthma or other respiratory problems (me of course). Never have I been so scared to hear the word pneumonia. She said either 1) you can get it heal naturally or 2) you can take antibiotics. I asked, what do you recommend? the doc said, it is up to you. what. this was a cultural shock.
Go with your instinct
Of course, with having a dutchie boyfriend, my first reaction was sure I will let it heal naturally. WRONG. my guts told me to go for the antibiotics right away but the dutch cultural pressure of not overreacting or being too western, took over me. Luckily for me, once I got home, talked with my friends and mom that recommended to take antibiotics right away, I called the doctor right away when I was at home and told her I wanted to start the antibiotics. Best decision ever. Once I took the antibiotics, the cough was less painful, the chest pain was lower, the fever was better, and there came the phlegm. I am pretty sure if I didn’t take the antibiotics, I would not have the energy to write this right now. Don’t let the dutch cold culture influence your guts. Go with what makes you feel comfortable.
Recovery
Recovery from pneumonia, which helped me, was to keep drinking consistently water. I drank around 2 liters everyday + tea. Take tea infusion drinks that have ginger, vitamin c, turmeric. I think it is important to listen to your body. When you have pneumonia, food is a no, but I forced myself to eat at least what I could push (soup + chicken + salmon), in order to let my body have energy. It is important to keep the body nourish because it takes a toll on energy. I also slept quite a lot, I did not use my phone much, other than to let my parents know I was still alive (dramatic I know). Sleeping is really hard, I had the worst sleeps in my whole life. What helps is to sleep sideways or to put pillows to keep your head tilted.
I think it is important to not rush your body to recover. I took sick days leave, which was very appreciated and my work was really understanding that I could not work for 2 weeks. Even though I am back to working full time, I still take breaks because the running out of breath when talking too much and feeling tired will last for 2 months or so (asthma made it worse for me).
Take care of yourself. Keep tabs of your temperature. Hydrate.
