On being sick for a whole month…

Little did I know when I wrote this post about coughing all night long, that what I had was PNEUMONIA. After spending every night on the futon in the playroom because my coughing kept the entire house up, I woke up on Monday and decided I should call my doctor for an appointment.

I think it was the feeling that my chest was on fire that finally did it for me.

But did this keep me from going to the gym and doing my 5K training? Of course not. For some strange reason I thought exercise would help kick whatever I had. Instead? I thought I was going to die. Literally. For the first time in my life I was just a little bit worried about what was wrong with me.*

Imagine coughing violently until you have no more breath left to cough, then when you finally stop to take a breath, you are wheezing in thick pea soup. Juuuust a little bit of panic at that point.

So I saw my doctor in the afternoon and she listened to my lungs and says, “Yup, you have pneumonia.”

And I say, “Can I still go running on Wednesday?”

And she looks at me like I have three heads. “Don’t be stupid. You need to rest.”

Did I mention that my doctor is my friend? She sasses me all the time.

My first dose of antibiotic was a double dose. I was hoping this would take the edge off my cough so I could get a decent night’s sleep. Sadly, I woke up at 11:45 and coughed until 2am when it suddenly occurred to me I should try a cough drop. I did, and it seemed to relaxed all the muscles that make me cough, and I was able to fall asleep. As long as I breathed shallow breaths.

We’ll see what happens today.

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*I actually had a great run. My lungs didn’t rebel until after I got home. If I can kick ass on a treadmill like that with no lung capacity? I’m going to rock the 5K healthy.