How serious is pleurisy?

[LakieLady]

My MIL, 83, was admitted to hospital with pleurisy in the early hours of this morning.

She started a cold last Monday, and no-one could go and see her because we've all either had Covid or had been in close contact with someone who had. DNiece was better and testing negative and went to see her on Thursday, took some shopping and stuff. She was concerned, and went again on Friday. MIL was worse. On Saturday, my SIL, DNiece's mum was clear of Covid so went up as well.

MIL was markedly worse, so knackered she couldn't talk for long, and said she thought she had pleurisy (she had it years ago). After a lot of faffing about with 111, they finally decided she needed to be admitted and sent an ambulance in the early hours. The paramedics said her chest sounded like there was a fair bit of crackling in her lungs, but she didn't have a fever and her LFT was negative.

How worried should we be? She's incredibly fit and resilient, could pass for 20 years younger, almost never gets ill and has been incredibly careful re Covid (which makes it seem really unfair that she's got this, after making such an effort to keep herself free of infection for nearly 2 years).

But despite all that, she's 83 years old and I'm aware that anything serious at that age can quickly become life-threatening.

It’s very painful with a long recovery because your so tired but not usually enough to kill you.

Keep in contact with her as much as you can because it makes a huge difference.

Thanks, @Fluffycloudland77 .

We've got no way of keeping in touch with her, sadly. Her mobile died, SIL bought her a new one, but got Covid before she got a chance to take it to her. Plus it's a touch screen, she's never used one before - she had an ancient PAYG burner, that mostly stayed at home in a drawer.

I'll suggest they charge it up, put our numbers in, and drop it off at the hospital for her. I'm sure she'd be able to answer incoming calls.

I wonder if they have wifi in the hospital? If so, one of us could pick up her laptop and drop it off, and we could email. She might even have downloaded Zoom.

I might ring the hospital and ask.

Hospitals have WiFi.

Pleurisy is painful, and usually occurs when you have a lung infection, a cold or pneumonia, it is irritation between the lungs and chest wall, it makes breathing difficult and coughing painful.
In an 83 yr old it is not a trivial condition

You could call the ward to ask how she is. On some wards they'll take the phone to her bed so she can speak to you.

Has she had an x-ray? They'll need to investigate further before they make a diagnosis.

Thank you, everyone.

SIL got an update from the hospital this morning. They now suspect pneumonia in the upper right lobe (SIL wasn't clear if that was instead of, or as well as, the pleurisy). MIL is on IV ABs and doing well, slept well and is eating well. She was told there is no need for an x-ray and that if MIL continues to improve she could be discharged in 2-3 days, to be followed up by GP.

She really is astonishingly tough, bless her, mentally as well as physically.

MIL was discharged today. She is still very weak and can barely lift her head from the pillow. SIL is staying with her and tells me she is having to drink everything through a straw (MIL, not SIL!).

It sounds to me that they've sent her home too soon, but knowing MIL she'll have convinced them she's fit enough to climb Everest, she was so desperate to be back in her own house.

Thanks again for all the info.

I think their under pressure to send anyone home soon as possible because of covid.

You can buy fortisip shakes/desserts online. Some have 2 calories per ml and provide huge amounts of vitamins etc plus macro nutrients. They’re very good at supplementing a convalescent diet. It would be worth buying some and encouraging a little mobilisation daily as the muscles atrophy quickly.

It sounds to me that they've sent her home too soon, but knowing MIL she'll have convinced them she's fit enough to climb Everest, she was so desperate to be back in her own house.

better to be at home away from a hospital where she could catch covid and that on top of pneumonia would be far worse

if it was my mum id want her home early to be safe

I had pneumonia about 5 years ago and have never felt so exhausted. It takes so much energy to breathe that you've got no energy left for anything else. It's really important to rest, drinks lots of fluids and let your body heal. I had a lovely GP who told me that my recovery could take 6 months if I did it sensibly, or 12 months if I pushed myself too soon. Given her age, it's likely to be a long slow recovery for her.