Bleh!

I have a ridiculous immune system. I contract the common cold/virus/flu once every two or three years. Sometimes though, I rely on that immune system a bit too much which results in something a bit more serious than the common cold. A couple of years ago I got H1N1 and I truly believed I might die. It was not good.

Two weeks ago I noticed my throat was sore. Two days later the soreness was gone. I felt fine. This is typical for me when I get a virus; the symptoms are mild and they only last a couple of days. But the next day I began coughing. Thinking that the virus must have triggered my asthma, I grabbed the inhaler I use a couple of times annually and took two puffs. It didn't help.

By Monday I was coughing every few minutes, and sometimes I would have coughing spasms. I thought about going to a doctor, decided I would be told I just had a virus and nothing could be done, and took more asthma medication.

The coughing increased. I didn't feel that my lungs were congested, but occasionally I would feel heaviness or difficulty inhaling. I just assumed they were tired--after all, I'd been coughing a lot.

For the past couple of nights I've not been able to get to sleep until after midnight; then I awake every hour because I'm coughing so much. This morning I tolerated it until 3:30 a.m. Then I got out of bed and folded laundry, did dishes, mopped floors, and checked email. I've not been able to run for two days because I've not felt well, but I went to the gym at that point and did the necessary strengthening exercises for my hip.

Darrin began badgering me to go to the doctor when he got home from work this afternoon. I didn't want to. I kept telling him I felt much better today than I had all week. He rolled his eyes at me.

We had to go to a rehearsal dinner for a wedding tonight. I felt miserable. After we'd been there for about an hour, Darrin made excuses to everyone and we left. I suggested we go to Walmart, but a dozen bottles of Nyquil and I'd drink it all. More eye-rolling from Darrin. As we headed to the store, we approached an urgent care clinic. Darrin suggested we make a quick stop. I rolled my eyes at him. However, I decided it couldn't hurt, especially because at this point when I coughed all the muscles in my stomach all the way down to my pelvic region wore cramping and hurting.

As it was almost 8:00 (which is when the clinic is supposed to close), we were almost immediately ushered into an exam room. The nurse and doctor took a brief medical history, then started the exam. For nearly five minutes the doctor listened to me breathe, saying, "Hmmmm..." each time.

The diagnosis:

1. Decreased function and spasms in both lungs.
2. Infection in both lungs.
3. Wheezing and low oxygen saturation.

Somewhere in all that, the doctor said something about almost pneumonia and why didn't I come in sooner and I stopped listening after that. I'm Samantha. I don't get pneumonia.

So now I'm on some stupid huge antibiotic, a steroid inhaler, and I'm supposed to take my regular inhaler every four hours. I'm very cranky about all this, and I'm still coughing.

Sigh...

I don't care. I'm going running tomorrow no matter what.