Washington: Talk show host Oprah Winfrey recently opened up about a terrifying health scare that made her “cancel everything” and land in the emergency room.
The 65-year-old star has finally recovered after dealing with a “serious” case of pneumonia that left her doctor terrified, reported People.
Winfrey shared that she had to head to the hospital after returning from a trip abroad.
“I thought I had a cold, but it wasn’t a cold,” she told Ellen DeGeneres on a recent episode of ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’.
“I ended up in the emergency room, and they said, ‘You have pneumonia.’ And I go home with pneumonia, and pneumonia’s nothing to play with y’all. It’s very serious,” she added.
Winfrey said that she started taking a round of antibiotics, but they “weren’t working.” She later visited a lung specialist who was shocked at the severity of her case.
“I went back for another CT scan, and they said it’s actually worse, you should see a lung specialist. So I go into the lung specialist, and I say, ‘I’ve got a little rattling,’ and he puts the stethoscope on my neck and I see the ‘Oh s–‘ face. It is like, ‘Oh, my — something’s wrong with you.’ I can see it, he didn’t hide it,” she said.
Winfrey’s pneumonia was getting worse with time so much so that the doctor told her, “You must cancel everything.”
“I never cancel anything, I work all the time when I’m sick. He goes, ‘You must cancel everything, you cannot fly for a month’,” she said.
After some time off from her hectic schedule, resting for a while and taking medicines, Winfrey’s doctor was relieved that he was able to help the star.
“When I walked in and I was better, he thanked me three times for getting better, and said, ‘Can I have a hug?’ and I could tell that he was like, ‘Not on my watch is this going to happen’,” she said.
Pneumonia is a bacterial infection, unlike the normal common cold, which is a viral infection. The symptoms usually go away in a few days or weeks with antibiotics, although sufferers may continue to feel achy and tired for a month or even more.
“Don’t play with it and get your flu shots and get your pneumonia shots. It’s nothing to play with,” Winfrey said.
The talk show host added that the entire experience “changed the way” she looks at wellness, which is why she’s going on tour to talk about it!
Winfrey is going to share her outlook on wellness with the people during her nine-city 2020 Vision tour.