Open Up and Say "Aaaahhhhh"

OK, so I am still home sick.

I had to make the phone call this morning about not coming in to work. I really hate making that phone call, but I must say, that my voice sounds so awful right now, I almost take pride in it. Almost. So, I left a message on a few co-worker's voicemails and could just imagine them listening and wincing at the horrific sound coming out of me. It's pretty cool.

I also started to feel a little funkiness in my lungs. I decided it was time for the doctor. I am usually pretty stubborn about trying to get well by myself, but I need to be skiing in the mountains of Colorado in exactly nine days, and I refuse to let this darn cold turn into bronchitis or pneumonia and stand in the way of that.

As I sat in the little examining room, waiting on the doctor, I looked around at all of the article clippings on the walls. Lots of clippings warning about the dangers of overprescribing antibiotics and the differences between bacterial and viral infections. "Most colds are viral and antibiotics simply won't help them to go away any sooner," the articles warned. I read a paragraph about how some bacterial colds can take up to 2 weeks to go away and that antibiotics simply wouldn't help speed the process.

Again, I counted the days in my head until I have to board that plane to Denver. I started to think this outing to the doctor was going to be a waste of my time and that I probably would have been better off laying in bed watching TV for this particular hour and a half. I had visions of coughing up phlegm while riding the ski lift. I was sure I was doomed. I prayed that whatever I had, they wouldn't conclude it to be "viral".

Luckily, (or at least that is how I choose to look at it) the doctor said my lungs sounded "rough" and declared, in spite of all the article clippings, that I needed a breathing treatment and an antibiotic. I think I actually heard the angels sing out a chorus of "hallelujah".

At least now I feel that, A) Whatever I have can actually be helped by something other than rest and the passing of time, B) Anyone who comes to our house on Sunday to watch the SuperBowl will not have to fear for their lives, because I should not be contagious and most importantly, C) I will be taking my last antibiotics on the day I fly to Colorado, so when I hit the slopes on that cold, crisp morning of February 11th, I should be feeling like my old self.

In theory, I should be able to go back to my job tomorrow--and in the meantime, just for fun, I might even call a few more people with my horrible voice while I still have it.