If it seems like a cold

MarDel0917

Hi my bf 45yo eoa has been having a cough. Yesterday he had a fever, cough and I can hear junk in his chest. His voice is hoarse too. To me it seems like a chest cold. With his eoa do I need to be overly cautious when he gets sick like this? Which is rare. I ask him if he feels fine and he says yes. I tried to take his temperature and that was a hard NO. This is so hard.

We are all in this together 💜

Denise1847

Can you do a home test for COVID?

harshedbuzz

@MarDel0917

I don't know that you need to extra cautious, but common sense should prevail. There are a lot of URIs around right now. I would test for both COVID and flu asap. You'll want to be extra careful to avoid becoming ill as well. If his test positive, I would ask his PCP for a prescription (Tamiflu or Paxolvid) to lessen symptoms. Any illness can seem to cause a disease progression that may or may not become his new normal.

If he's stage 6, I would be concerned about aspiration and ask for a chest X-ray. Aspiration pneumonia is a common cause of death in PWD.

HB

jehjeh

What i have learned is that my DH cannot accurately describe how he is feeling or what symptoms he is experiencing. He will say he's in extreme pain but when the doctor's office is on the phone he's not so bad. Coughing fits that last 5 minutes are just a slight cough in his memory. I have to be the one who decides how severe his ailments are. Hard, though, to help him when he can't remember how bad it has been. I hope you can convince him to take the tests. Can you invest in a thermometer that reads the temp from the forehead? Might be easier than under the tongue.