Thursday, April 23, 2009

Fighting a cold and other things....

Well, I was summoned by my physician a couple days ago to the clinic for a chest x-ray and an appointment a couple hours later. This x-ray was at 4:30pm, my appointment was at 6:30pm on Tuesday. I got there at 4:30, picked up the order and walked down the hall. While I was awaiting the X-ray guy I read the form. In the box marked "reason" there were two words: "Cough" and "SOB". I have been called SOB a time or two in my 56 years, but never by my doctor. After brief reflection I realized that it meant "shortness of breath".

The good news is that it is not pneumonia. I am on a 5 day course of azithromycin and a different kind of cough suppressant.

How did I get into this situation? Well, I was was over at the hospital that morning for a pre-op physical for surgery to reduce and straighten out a hammer-toe that is pressing down on the ball of my left foot and continuing to aggravate a blister that has never healed properly in a year and a half. The hope (no guarantee) is that this will relieve the pressure from on top and allow my foot to heal. The anaesthesiologist noted my cough and mentioned that if I were still coughing like that on May 5, they would reschedule.

Not only would most any other available day in the next two months be a problem, I really want to get fixed sooner rather than later. So I called my doctor's office and requested an appointment ASAP. The front desk said there were no openings for a week and a half, and I mentioned why time was of the essence. The front desk person sounded doubtful, but said she would talk to the nurse. About 3 hours later I got the call directly from the doctor.

Well that's probably too much information for some, and as soon as I hit "Publish" I'd better call my mother who is one of my two or three loyal readers.

4 comments:

Ms. H said...

Mom was pretty tired and stressed when you called -- we'd been working for several hours fixing the few newsletter pages that were being giant pains in the rear. There were only a few problems this month! Next month there will be even fewer problems and shortly I will be "out of a job."

I hope the cough gets better before the surgery. Keep me up-to-date.

Love ya!

-- Betsy

MB said...

That was funny being called an SOB by a doctor...I'd be looking at the doctor, like huh? Is grapefruit juice working for you still? Take care.

Unknown said...

Hi Betsy -- What's a "Worman"?

And the cough will get better before the surgery, because the surgery won't happen otherwise...

Unknown said...

Well, the grapefruit juice may work or not, but at least it tastes good and soothes my throat.