the sadness has spread to my lungs
I've had a nasty wet cough for about two weeks now--took a couple days off from work after my coworkers started complaining. I'm scheduled for a doctor's appointment tomorrow, but this morning I realized it was getting worse and decided I couldn't wait. So I went straight to the hospital emergency room, and, well, I'm glad I did.
The good news: I don't have bronchitis, like I feared.
The bad news: I have pneumonia.
Fortunately, this isn't the same pneumonia that killed your great-grandmother during the war. Or at least it's not pneumonia of that magnitude. It's a mild pneumonia, the doctor at the hospital emphasized, just a tiny splotch on the x-ray. Probably viral, which would explain why it hasn't gotten better in two weeks. They're glad they caught it early, before it had a chance to spread all over my lungs. It's not contagious unless I spit phlegm down someone's throat and they swallow it (so, no french kissing or disgusting sexual behavior). So I can go back to work tomorrow. Yay.
They've prescribed me five days' worth of antibiotics, which makes no sense considering that they said it was viral, but hey, I'm not a doctor.
Though I'm precisely the kind of person you'd expect to get pneumonia--running about the city in freezing rain, mucking about in brackish water, the like--I haven't done much of that lately due to terrible weather. I'm somewhat at a loss as to how I got it in the first place.
On the subject of miracles, an Airbus plunged into the Hudson River this morning. All 155 passengers survived, and only one passenger was injured (he somehow broke both his legs). Amazing.
The good news: I don't have bronchitis, like I feared.
The bad news: I have pneumonia.
Fortunately, this isn't the same pneumonia that killed your great-grandmother during the war. Or at least it's not pneumonia of that magnitude. It's a mild pneumonia, the doctor at the hospital emphasized, just a tiny splotch on the x-ray. Probably viral, which would explain why it hasn't gotten better in two weeks. They're glad they caught it early, before it had a chance to spread all over my lungs. It's not contagious unless I spit phlegm down someone's throat and they swallow it (so, no french kissing or disgusting sexual behavior). So I can go back to work tomorrow. Yay.
They've prescribed me five days' worth of antibiotics, which makes no sense considering that they said it was viral, but hey, I'm not a doctor.
Though I'm precisely the kind of person you'd expect to get pneumonia--running about the city in freezing rain, mucking about in brackish water, the like--I haven't done much of that lately due to terrible weather. I'm somewhat at a loss as to how I got it in the first place.
On the subject of miracles, an Airbus plunged into the Hudson River this morning. All 155 passengers survived, and only one passenger was injured (he somehow broke both his legs). Amazing.