Pneumonia

Definitely not what I wanted to hear, but that’s the final diagnosis. I took a turn for the worse on Wednesday. I rang my doctor for the fourth time in five days, and once again she fobbed me off, assuring me that I was getting better, and that she really didn’t need to see me. By that time I had totally lost what little confidence I had in her and on Thursday morning I rang another doctor’s surgery. Within 90 minutes I was in the doctor’s office, what a difference! I spent 25 minutes in there with two major results, firstly she prescribed me another dose of antibiotics because my left lung was definitely not clear, and then she told me to have a chest x-ray as soon as possible. We drove to Tralee on Friday morning, and by the evening I had the results. Pneumonia. Not very severe, but pneumonia all the same.

I am an adult, and there is no doubt that the main responsibility lies with me alone. Each run that I have undertaken since the middle of December I did in the full knowledge that I was not entirely healthy. I also ignored the advice I frequently give out to others, namely to run if the symptoms are above the neck and to stay at home if they are below. My initial cough was so mild that I dismissed it. Of course, in hindsight, a few days of rest back then might have sorted out the problem there and then. However, my old doctor must definitely shoulder some part of the fault. With her constant refusal to see me my treatment got delayed by 6 days, and since I had originally asked for an appointment 4 days before my first turn for the worse, I think that full-blown pneumonia could have been prevented. Her diagnosis over the telephone of a viral infection, finally, must go down as the least professional behaviour by a doctor that I have personally have come across.

But enough of the whining. By trial and error I have developed some survival techniques for the violent cough attacks that come with pneumonia. Lie on your side, with the elbow underneath your chest (the last bit is important, as I found out in one of the error stages of practical research). Coughing is also the second most painful thing you do with pneumonia. Having hiccups is the most painful one (“huckouuuuwwwww!!!”). The third most painful thing is laughing, as I found out when I followed this link from Ewen’s site. Follow it if you want to see it, but don’t if you’ve got pneumonia. Plus, I’ve always fancied Natalie Imbruglia.

You probably think I should be in bed rather than on the computer, and you’re probably right, but my back is so painful from all those hours in bed that I needed to get out of there for a few minutes. Anyway, don’t expect to see me back on the roads for a while. At the moment I’m so miserable that I don’t even care about that.