Patriarch Pitts

The news for Grandpa was good. It doesn’t appear that he has cancer. In about five minutes, the doctor told him that he thinks he has pneumonia. Uncle Bob (his youngest brother) drove him to Provo. Dad and I met them there and went to the doctor with them. He is a pulmonary specialist. He looked at the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) Grandpa had brought with him from Price. He then listened to his lungs. (Pneumonia may be suspected when the doctor examines the patient and hears coarse breathing or crackling sounds when listening to the chest with a stethoscope. There may be wheezing, or the sounds of breathing may be faint in a particular area of the chest.) He then showed us the area of pneumonia in the lung and prescribed antibiotics for him which should last for 22 days. He then goes back to the doctor (Oct. 20) to see if the lung is clear. He also wants to see the MRI done six months ago and one year ago. He said he then could see the changes that had taken place in that time. Most people who develop pneumonia initially have symptoms of a cold which are then followed by a high fever, and a cough with sometimes bloody sputum production. In other cases of pneumonia (we used to call it “walking pneumonia), there can be a slow onset of symptoms. A cough, headaches, and muscle aches may be the only symptoms. In some people with pneumonia, coughing is not a major symptom because the infection is located in areas of the lung away from the larger airways. Elderly people, children and babies who develop pneumonia may have few symptoms. The doctor also wants him to see an endocrinologist because he suspects he has a nontoxic nodular goiter. Those occur when the thyroid gland is unable to meet the metabolic demands of the body with sufficient hormone production. The thyroid gland compensates by enlarging, which usually overcomes mild deficiencies of thyroid hormone. Grandpa told the doctor that he has had the problem show up before and has been tested in the past. The previous doctors told him that the nodule was a birth defect and was not dangerous.

AnnMarie, Matthew and Rachel came to Chuck-A-Rama and ate with us all. Grandpa got to see new little Rachel and we all had a nice visit.