One More Fine Whine!

Where my Belize Ecco's took me Wednesday.

(I know this is pathetic, but even sick people get bored!)

Well, I just THOUGHT I was getting better. Wednesday morning after I'd been up an hour, I started on one of those coughing/wheezing jags that left me choking for air. I felt like I was drowning. I decided enough was enough! I knew my internist's office was closed on Wednesday's, so I decided to drag my carcass to the quick medical clinic where we got the damn swine flu shots. Simple enough. I'd go and they'd give me antibiotics!

After waiting about a half hour in a waiting room with three other people who sounded a lot like me, the nurse called me back. And after another half hour of perching on that silly table, the doctor pulled back the curtain. The female doctor listened to my heart and lungs and my hacking and wheezing, and then told me I needed to go on to Cigna's Urgent Care. She thought I could possibly have pneumonia and wanted me to get checked there where they have the lab and x-ray facilities. She gave me exact directions to the place, about 10 miles away, and said they'd probably get me right in.

Famous last words. When I arrived at the Urgent Care, I waited at the counter while a receptionist type person ignored me for five minutes. I finally asked her if she wanted my name. She barked at me to fill out a little form and put it in the basket. I wanted to tell her she should try smiling once in awhile, but I complied with her instructions and took a seat. While sitting there for another fifteen minutes, I listened to her chatting and laughing on the phone to a friend. It was like a sitcom episode. The second she ended her personal call, she switched from happy gear right back into bitch gear. Rebecca McHugh. I hopped back to the window so she wouldn't be kept waiting. She asked for my insurance card. While standing there, I suddenly noticed a sign by her little window that said "Thanks for your patience. The wait is approximately one hour and a half." Are you KIDDING me! After she returned my card and had me sign forms, I asked her then if the wait was really an hour and a half. She barked right back, "I don't know, I JUST got here!" I have to wonder in a place like Phoenix where unemployment is out of sight how she gets away with that act!

Long story short -- it WAS an hour and a half in the waiting room listening to the Grump bark at anyone who dared to intrude with a question. I came to the conclusion that the Urgent Care was an emergency room (duhhh!) populated mainly by people without health insurance or insurance other private doctors don't accept using it as a regular clinic. But I have to say, once I was finally called back into the treatment area, all the doctors and nurses were extremely pleasant.

What I found out is that it isn't pneumonia. That wheezing is an asthmatic reaction to the bronchitis and sinus infection. It's the same thing I had in September, only the asthma aspect is worse this time. The staff gave me a breathing treatment and I left with a whopping headache (must have been the 'bong' treatment) and three prescriptions that the doctor said should have me feeling like new in about three days. Hallelujah! I guess that means I'll be off the couch by Saturday!

By the time I got the prescriptions filled and got back home, five hours had passed. I could have had a colonoscopy in that amount of time! : )

Here's the interesting bit of info. The pharmacist chatted with me when he was giving me the prescription instructions on the Z-pac, prednisone, and inhaler. I told him it all started the day after my swine flu shot. He said he is dispensing a LOT of prescriptions to people with respiratory complications from the swine flu shot. His advice is if you're a healthy person, don't take it. He said he tells customers and friends they can take Tamiflu if they get it!

So this is my excuse. If you don't get a Christmas card or present from me this year, I'm still on the couch! (And I'm not really kidding about that one!)

I'll just lie back and dream I'm in the hammock wheezing to the sound of the waves!