Pontiff was hospitalized on February 14 after a long crisis of bronchitis and shortness of breath that quickly evolved into double pneumonia and a respiratory infection
It had “a truly surprising improvement” and returned on Saturday (29) to the Vatican, after five weeks of hospitalization due to double pneumonia, the doctor who coordinated his treatment at the hospital told.
“He’s very excited,” said doctor Sergio Alfieri, after visiting the Pope in his apartment at Santa Marta Domus, last Wednesday, three days after his discharge from Gamelli Hospital in Rome. “I believe he will return, if not 100%, to 90% where he was before.”
On Sunday, 23, just before he was discharged from the hospital, the Pope went to the balcony of his room and greeted the crowd of faithful who clustered in front of the hospital center. Her voice failed to praise a woman who held yellow flowers in the audience. He could only partially raise his arm to bless the faithful and lost his breath as he was taken back in.
Alfieri said that the Pope’s voice is recovering his strength and that his dependence on supplementary oxygen has already diminished. According to the doctor, the limited mobility of the pontiff’s arm would be related to an unspecified trauma that occurred before hospitalization and will take time to improve.
The 88 -year -old Pope was hospitalized on February 14 after a long bronchitis and shortness of breath that evolved rapidly into double pneumonia and polymicrobial respiratory infection (picture indicates the presence of multiple pathological agents such as viruses, bacteria and fungi).
Throughout the hospitalization, doctors emphasized the complexity of the Pope’s health condition because of his advanced age, impaired mobility (which required the use of a wheelchair) and the removal of part of a lung in youth.
Alfieri again said that he did not believe the Pope would survive after an acute respiratory crisis that occurred a week after hospitalization. He refused the intubation (which he would demand that he was unconscious) and, therefore, doctors suggested drug treatment that could endanger their organs. “He gave his consent and then appointed Massimiliano Streppetti his personal health assistant, who said ‘we approved everything, even in the risk of ending the damaged kidneys or a bone marrow that produces altered red blood cells,” said Alfieri.
The doctor described the necessary treatment to save the Pope’s life as “decisive” and not “aggressive”, and emphasized that no extraordinary measure to the extent of the pontiff’s life was taken during hospitalization.
The February 22 crisis was one of several critical moments of the process, when the Pope’s life was on a thread, according to the doctor. Double pneumonia was healed at the hospital, but Francisco continues to treat the fungal infection. The Pope is also doing physical therapy, respiratory therapy and speech therapy sessions.
Alfieri talks to the Pope’s doctors every day and visits him once a week at the Vatican. On the last visit, the Pope demonstrated his characteristic good humor in responding to a doctor’s comment, according to which Francis had the mentality of someone from 50 or 60 years. “” Fifty, no; 40 years, “he said; that is, his sense of humor is back,” said Alfieri.
The doctors determined that the Pope is at rest for at least two months, and avoid crowds. But in the face of progress and knowing Francisco’s work ethics, Alfieri believes that the Pope may want to anticipate his return.
Posted by Luisa Cardoso
*With information from Estadão Content
