Monday, June 17, 2013

And then there was March

Remember when I had the flu in...when was it, January? February?  Well, in March, I came down with something that felt like the flu, again.  After a few days of feeling sick, and feeling worse every day, I went to my primary care doctor.  The sign on the door said, "Let the staff know if you have flu-like symptoms: cough, fever, aching, sore throat."  Check, check, check, check.

Although I felt silly doing it, I told the front desk about my symptoms, and she gave me a look like she couldn't believe I was wasting her time and then handed me a mask.  And when I saw the doctor and told him my symptoms, he seemed to think it was just a cold and not worth worrying about.  I said, "Okay, well, just to be on the safe side, since I felt just the same way when I had the flu, are there any signs I should look out for in case it turns into the flu?"  He seemed as though he was trying not to laugh at me, this stupid overly-worried patient, and assured me it wasn't the flu.

The next day, I felt even worse.  JLR talked me into going to a clinic.  The doc there thought it might be the flu after all and gave me a flu test.  The result was negative, but since I had been sick for several days, it might show a negative result even if I had the flu. She told me to stay home from work until my fever went away.  It certainly was nice to have a member of the medical profession seem concerned about my well-being and not blow me off.

Two days later, I felt even worse and was coughing up a storm.  JLR talked me into going to yet another clinic, and this time, I got the right diagnosis. As it turns out, I had walking pneumonia.  Only took a week to figure it out.

And that's about the most exciting thing that's happened to me since the last time I posted anything.



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