Oddly, I almost never get colds, especially since I came down with rheumatoid arthritis in 1998. I used to get strep throat every year, like clockwork, but not since I came down with RA.
My younger son (the 15 year old) has been sick maybe three times in his life.
The older (the 18 year old) used to come down with everything, especially strep throat and various stomach bugs, but even he hasn't had a cold (upper respiratory tract infection) in a while.
SARS, however is a lower respiratory tract infection, as I understand it.
My mother (70 year old) had one last year but she is one of those people who refuses to go to the doctor unless she is dying. Actually I had to drag her by threatening to call 911 and have the paramedics bring her. She had been coughing and wheezing for months and finally appeared to be drowning. She turned out to have perforated a lung, gotten the infection into the pleural sac, and then the lung healed, leaving massive amounts of fluid in the pleural space, so that she needed a thoracotomy and three chest tubes. The doctors were pleasantly surprised that she survived.
I am cautiously optimistic that I will be able to survive a bout with SARS but might quit taking methotrexate this fall just to increase my odds. |
