No Swine Flu Here...But It's Allllllways Sumthin'

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Okay, then. I shall now proceed to blow off a little *k's medical stuff* steam. You are forewarned! Proceed at your own peril, fully prepared to be grossed out, bored, impatient with my whininess, confused by excessive alphabet soup, what have you. Me, I need a little Complaining Time, so I'll indulge. You're certainly welcome to stay and read on if you like: it's your choice.

heh! Yes. You see, when you come right down to it, all of us have our lives in our own hands.

Here's a Current Event item: Until I read all your comments about swine flu, I had NO idea what a big mess it was, or how quickly it became one. When I wrote the last post a week ago Tuesday, it was still easy to be tongue-in-cheek about it.

The next day, Wednesday, I started coughing blood up out of my lungs. It wasn't much but it's still...disconcerting.

After some phone calls with my ID doc - a Real Doc - I went to the ER. Not Holy Cross or Imperial Point, but Broward General this time. Whereupon Walter and I were genuinely impressed with their infection control procedures, and with their entire staff.

With one glaring exception: the doctor.

In the end, the doc decided not to admit me. He declared I don't have swine flu or TB; said that I do have a viral upper respiratory infection; told me antibiotics don't work on viruses; and said he'd write a prescription for an anti-viral.

The staff cut me loose a couple hours later, and handed me the doc's prescription for...Zithromax. Which is not only an antibiotic - thus as totally irrelevant as he'd said! - people who are allergic to erythromycin shouldn't take Zithromax. Like me.

HA! Idiot. At least he did one thing right: a nasal swab for a flu test. It was negative. While it's not as accurate as the CDC test, it's highly unlikely I have swine flu.

Well! That's one less thing to worry about.

TB? Probably not. But I don't know if it's proved yet, one way or the other. Since I stopped coughing up blood on Sunday, I figured I was getting over the cold, or whatever this awful beastie is that's going around. I'd just keep resting and rattling and eating cough syrup. Ride it out. We really are getting better, Walter and I. Slowly but surely.

So much for Plans.

Today, Dr C and Walter and I and Dr S the lung doc are happily slinging scorn in the ER idiot's direction, as we do Lung Things over again, the right way this time...because this morning I woke up coughing bits of blood once more. argh! Tomorrow I get a lung CAT scan, then I'll see Dr S.

It's not that I forgot that lesson about calling the doc before you go to the ER. I just stopped at the wrong one, the Infectious Disease doc, when I should have called the Lung Doc too. The ID doc did the right thing by sending me to the ER. But the lung doc would have gotten involved at the ER and ordered a CAT scan and all. Don't worry, I'll get it down.

So for now I'm home again; and in excellent medical hands, folks. Truly.
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