Believe me, when I say I would rather have been anywhere other than where I was. I was in the hospital—double pneumonia.
It all started innocently enough. It is spring time in Tennessee, so my primary doctor concluded that I had a touch of a cold along with a heavy dose of allergy. Then he packed his bag and left for a medical conference in Brazil! Things only got worse from there. Intense coughing and difficulty breathing.
I had opted for a concierge doctor in hopes that such an arrangement meant improved access and medical attention. With my concierge doc off in Brazil, I called his office and told the assistant I was coming in anyway, and that I needed one of the other doctors in the group to see me. I do have to say they shuffled schedules as needed. The backup doctor got to me without much of a wait—took blood samples and a chess x-ray. Since I had difficulty breathing and some leg swelling, the substitute doctor apparently decided my problem was heart related. He concluded the coughing was due to excess fluids. The first step was to reduce the fluids to stop the coughing, and then they would arrange for a heart workup. The doctor prescribed some “water pills” to reduce fluids and sent me home.
The uncontrollable coughing continued, and I was no longer able to sleep. After two days, I called the doctor and reported that I was still having trouble breathing and could not stop coughing. Their answer was go to emergency room. I did, and the emergency room staff was top touch. They did a CT scan shortly after I arrived and determined I had double pneumonia. Finally, with the correct diagnoses I started getting the treatment I required.
Am I over it now? No, I’m out of the hospital but weak and still short of breath. I think it is going to take quite a while before I’m anywhere close to well!
Of course, I will certainly follow up with the heart specialist. I suppose it is possible that some heart problem may have contributed to the onset of pneumonia. I hope that isn’t the case. My ticker seems to be ticking away just as it always has.
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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to the TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online bookstores. For Amazon go to www.amazon.com/Tom-Collins. For an audio edition of The Claret Murders go to http://amzn.com/B00IV5ZJEI. eBook editions are also available through Apple iTunes’ iBook’s Store and Smashwords.com. For the new adventure novel on Amazon go to Diversion, A Mark Rollins Adventure
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