Pneumonia and a decline. Is there a connection?
My husband and I caught some virus over Christmas. His cough started out worse than mine. It seemed to be in his chest early on, though. His heart rate was up and was bothering him. My heart rate is usually up when I am fighting an infection, so I wasn't too concerned, except that his O2 level was below normal. He has worked in the medical field, so he would not go to an urgent care facility or hospital. Last week, I called the doctor for him. But because it was less than 10 days since he first started with a cough, they would only do a virtual visit. Don't get me started on virtual visits. He had a covid, flu, RSV test. All were negative. So, he was prescribed an antibiotic.
After several days, he was still coughing and complaining about his side hurting. Again, he would not go to an urgent care facility. Four days had passed since the virtual visit when I called the doctor again. His appointment was this morning. It turns out to be pneumonia.
While his cognitive issues were not that obvious for several weeks, they seem much more prevalent today. One example is that we went to the store to get things for our new dog (we are adopting). We got to the store and my DH wanted to know if I wanted him to get the (propane) gas tank out of the back. I was taken aback and said, "What?" Not even sure where that came from. I never said anything about even needing gas in the tank (which we don't), and he would have been the one to take the tank off the grill and put it in the car, which he never did.
Can this behavior be attributed to the low oxygen levels due to the pneumonia, or just the infection itself? It may be hard to answer, but does that usually lead to more of a decline or will there likely be a rebound? What might I expect?
My mother didn't have pneumonia, but had pleural effusion, which is a build-up of fluid in the chest cavity. She literally couldn't take a deep breath for several weeks because her TERRIBLE doctor misdiagnosed her spectacularly, and after having very low oxygen levels for so long, she was never the same again. There was a very clear distinction between when Mom was cognizant and when she started declining mentally, and the pleural effusion episode was that line.
Fighting an illness is one.
The low oxygen could play a part as well.
Fighting an illness in one part of the body can also leave other parts more susceptible to infections in other parts. So then the body is fighting 2
The fact that he has dementia it is possible that ANY illness may cause a decline and it may take longer to "bounce back" and the "bounce back" may not return to pre illness baseline.
Keep an eye on things and how he does,. If there are any long lasting effects you notice, no matter how slight, keep notes and mention them to his doctor. If there is anything major then a call in to his doctor or at least a communication to the medical staff in his Portal.
Best of luck.