How a love of gardening led to legionnaires’
On holiday in Tanner’s Point, my day began much the same as those before – relaxed and cheerful, with no agenda, no rush, and no worries.
Warmer than the previous day and with no wind, we were ready for our first harbour boating experience. Little did we know what tiny terror was lurking.
Floating in the harbour, it was unbearably hot and I suddenly felt very unwell: hot, weak, tired and thirsty.
The abruptness of onset and degree of malaise was alarming, but I thought it was flu.
By the time we reached our holiday home I could barely haul myself up to the apartment.
I crashed on the bed, sweats alternating with shivers, and only a tenuous hold on consciousness.
I slept from 4pm until 11am the next day. I had zero appetite but drank plenty of water. I still thought it was a flu or some other virus.
I survived the day and night with more of the same, including three-to four-hour shivering sessions, which exhausted me. I don’t think I have ever felt so ill.
On our last morning, we headed to Tauranga to meet our son Talor and his family, who suggested I visit a clinic before heading home to Turangi.
When we got there I was fasttracked due to the chest pains I’d been experiencing, and advised to stay overnight with my family in case I needed to go to hospital.
They were fortuitous words. By 4pm, I was extremely unwell.
My son took me to Tauranga Emergency Department, where my temperature of 40.9 sent them leaping into action.
Within 30 minutes, I had had a chest x-ray and a diagnosis – pneumonia. I was floored. I had no cough and no respiratory difficulties.
A few minutes later, a doctor asked if I had been using potting mix in the past two weeks. It was an easy answer.
I have always worked with potting and garden mixes and seen the warnings, but never paid too much heed to them.
Now it all made sense. I had been infected by the legionella bacteria. I had legionnaires’ disease. I was admitted with the primary goals of treating the infection and reducing my temperature, which was consistently in the high 39s.
Because there was no definite diagnosis of legionella at this stage, I received both oral anti-biotics and broad spectrum IV antibiotics.
Wearing only adult nappies, a fan was played on me constantly to try to reduce my temperature and I was packed with ice against my skin, like a tuna off to Japan.
Eventually legionella was confirmed, of the type commonly found in New Zealand potting mixes.
I was in hospital for six days before my temperature was low enough for me to be allowed home. Then there was two-and-a-half weeks of convalescence, during which the tiredness and weakness were not at all fun. So the moral of my story? Heed the warnings on your potting mix, and always wear your gloves and mask!