Rome – Rome (AP) – Pope Francis has demonstrated “a truly surprising improvement” since Returning to the Vatican Convalue after surviving a potentially deadly fight with double pneumonia, the doctor who coordinated the five -week hospitalization of the Pontiff said on Saturday.
“I find it very lively,” said Dr. Sergio Alfieri, after visiting the Pope in his department at Santa Marta Domus on Wednesday, three days after his release from the Gemelli Hospital in Rome. “I think he will return if not 100%, 90% where he was before.” “
Francis seemed fragile and weak while greeted a multitude of supporters of a hospital balcony on Sunday. His voice diminished while praising a woman in the crowd for bringing yellow flowers. He could only partially lift his arm to bless people and gasped by the air when they put it back.
Alfieri said that Pope’s voice was recovering strength, and that his supplementary oxygen dependence has decreased. The limited mobility of his arm was due to an un specified trauma that he suffered before being hospitalized, and that will take time to heal, said Alfieri.
The 88 -year -old Pope was hospitalized on February 14 after a long combat with bronchitis that left him breathless sometimes, and that quickly became double pneumonia and revealed A polymicrobial respiratory infection (viral, bacterial and fungal). Throughout the test, doctors emphasized the complexity of their condition, given their age, the lack of mobility that a wheelchair requires and the elimination of part of a lung when he was young.
Alfieri repeated that he did not believe that the Pope did it after a severe respiratory crisis A week after being hospitalized, and informed the Pope that a “decisive” treatment necessary to save him would put his organs at risk.
” Gave his consent, and then looked at a Massimiliano Streppetti, whom he called his personal health assistant who assumed responsibility, to say: ‘We approved everything’, also at the price of leaving with damaged kidneys or bone marrow that produces harmful red blood cells, “said Alfieri.
Alfieri preferred to describe the treatment as “decisive”, and not aggressive, and emphasized that extraordinary measures were never taken and extended by life. The February 22 incident was one of several critical moments when the life of the Pope hung on the balance, said the doctor.
While Francis defeated the double pneumonia in the hospital, Alfieri said he continues to treat fungal infection, which, according to him, will take months to resolve. The Pope is also receiving physical, respiratory and speech therapy.
Alfieri continues to consult the Pope’s personal team daily and visit Francis in the Vatican every week.
The Pope demonstrated his characteristic humor in this week’s visit, responding to an Alfieri’s comment that the 88 -year -old pontiff had the mentality of a 50 or 60 -year -old player. “While I leaned, he said: ‘No 50, 40,’ ‘, Alfieri recalled.” Then his good sense of humor has returned. “
Doctors have ordered the Pope to rest for at least two months and avoid crowds. But after seeing the improvements of the Pope and knowing his work ethics, Alfieri warned that “if he recovers so fast, they will have to stop.”
