Patricia Loftus Spates

Thankful to be here, thankful for resources such as this one. It was June 2025, I was 58. All was fine other than being exhausted from a long week. I had just finished mowing my yard, showered and started feeling as if I was being stabbed in my neck.Then in my chest. I slept ok, woke up and felt as if I was drugged. I couldn’t find my way to the bathroom in my 800 sq. ft. house that I’d been in for 30 years so I called 911 for an ambulance the first time in my life.

It was Streptococcus pneumoniae, pairs and chains I believe. A week later I was home, by myself with 3 dogs to care for, weaker than ever before. I could barely move from one room to another. I was still having difficulty breathing. Back to normal after a couple months then fast forward to January 2026 when after having the flu and feeling better I immediately woke up the same way again. Thankfully my husband was asleep in his tractor trailer in our driveway to drive me to the ER. I had no blood pressure when we arrived. Same story, only this time they revived me and sent me to the ICU. I had NO IDEA either time except waking to the the feeling drugged thing. Since then I’ve been slowly recovering. I’m still doing my everyday tasks but they’re much more difficult. It’s been almost 4 months and my husband “forgets” that I can’t do everything for him. (GRRRRRR!). During my recovery we were doing an addition and reno on our house where we found the entire side wall (LR, BR, Bath) was engulfed in black mold. There’s no way to tell if this was the cause but I highly suspect it. Just 8 years earlier I was battling chronic pancreatitis (unknown origin), had that 5 times in 4 years. No more house where the problem was, hopefully no more illnesses!!!