Soooo....I lied.

    Let me rephrase the title: I misdiagnosed myself.

    At about 10:30 pm last night, the symptoms of what I thought was Pneumonia were flaring up, and I mean big time. I started to have that weezing sound as I was breathing in and out, and I felt like my lungs were being filled with Phlegm again.The lady of the couple I live with had a precious heart and said she had this Vicks Vaporizer that she sometimes puts on at night to help her breathe better. I gladly accepted that thing, and the minute I had it in my room, I stuck my face in that hot steam like it was the fountain of youth!! lol. No, but seriously, I felt my life depended on that thing. Throughout the night, it did a good number on me, unfortunately though, it didn't stop the onslaught of the sickness.

    So come about 11:15  or so, my body was letting me know that I was tired. However, my lungs said,"You....sleeping?? Oh no you don't!" The previous night before, I was able to go to bed at about 2:30 am, but this time, 2:30 came and went. I.Just.Could.Not. Rest! I'm sure many of you have gone through this too, am I right?? I would lay down and hope my lungs would give way for me to sleep,but as soon as the inflammation rose again, I was sitting back up again. Then maybe 20 minutes later,I lay down again. Still, no sleep. This went on until about 4:30 am, where I finally decide to go to the local E.R. I tried to stay away from it because I simply did not have the money to pay for another doctor bill. I know you guys can relate to that. Take on the battle yourself and save some money right? In this case, I think I was pretty stupid to think that. A wise parent of mine helped me to realize that.

    So I make it to the E.R. This was my first time there because it is a near medical center in Oviedo, Fl. Since it is, I thought I was going to have to go through a long process of entering my information in, but no, it was short and sweet.  Who wants to sit and talk about themselves that way in that matter anyway, when you came to the hospital because YOU are SICK and want to see a doctor?? I know it is important for them to have your info, but it's not something that I gladly look forward too. Anyway, the front desk clerk had taken me to a room to do the bare essentials on me and I waited in that room to see a doctor. I had a pleasant time there because the nurses were funny and one was very good at her bedside manners. After they had left for a while, I was able to get some reading in that was perfect for getting me ready for whatever medical procedures that awaited me. Yes, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I read American Sniper. How about that for a pleasant read in the hospital?haha.

   The doctor had finally come in and asked me some questions like most doctors do. Do you have any allergies? Do you have Diabetes? Do you have any family medical history with heart disease?Do you have Asthma? I did say no to most of those, however, I did bring up the fact that my grandfather has Parkinson's disease. The doctor didn't say much to that. So he had taken out his stethoscope to hear my breathing. Apparently nothing was alarming but right after, one of the nurses gave me a steroid that I was to breathe in through this breathalyzer machine. I used it for 5 minutes. It helped me greatly. After that, the doctor came back and notified me that I had Bronchitis, not Pneumonia. My first reaction was, "Oh man, I told a whole lot of people otherwise. Uh ohhhh.." I was glad, however, because he had informed me that bronchitis is a virus that leads to Pneumonia, so Pneumonia is worst. Here I was an hour before in my bed, thinking that I may die. No, the nurse at some point told me that the oxygen levels in my bloodstream were at 100% so I was fine. So at the end of my visit, the doctor signed off on an antibiotic prescription, a steroid prescription and a cough medicine prescription. I bought the steroid and antibiotic prescriptions because I didn't have enough money for the cough medicine(which was $54 btw including a discount) and I have Mucinex DM at home anyway.

   At some point today, I went to my church to meet up with a friend who graciously helped me out to buy the steroids. Everyone I knew there looked at me and said," What are you doing here, Daniel?!!" I was not surprised haha. Word had spread quickly of my condition thanks to Facebook. Btw, if your parents find out that you are going through a drastic episode of something via facebook, and if they love you, they'd be offended. Mine were. I don't know what I was thinking. I tend to go rogue when it comes to handling my own business, but that's not a good thing in a case like this. Next time, that won't happen. While I was at the church, I tried to tell my wonderful friends that I had a personal bubble they must not enter. Funny thing about that is Im a huge extrovert. We don't have personal bubbles usually. This bubble was for their own protection though. Even as I pulled into the Publix, I surprisingly saw a friend and her two children who I adore in the parking lot. Her girl came out of the car to hug me but immediately I said, "Stop! I have bronchitis!" with my hands up toward her. I had to say the same thing to her mother. It was good to see them but I was on my MC Hammer "Can't Touch This" mode.

     Thought you would get a kick out of the above :).  Can you imagine me doing that? Neither can I.

    Well, I am recovering. I am still pondering on if I should go to work or not. I do work in an office primarily, but my co-worker has not been going into work lately so I might be needed to go into the warehouse. It is dusty in there and all. I'm not one to be a pansy, but with what I just came through, I do not want to have that again so I need to be careful. This weekend was treacherous for me anyway. I cried out to God to heal me, tried everything I can to make myself better and get back on my feet, health-wise. All in all, I learned a few things of what not to do in these situations and learned again that my family cares and loves me, and that Bronchitis sucks big time pretty much. If you get it or think you do, see a doctor. Your health is more important than that impending bill you'll receive.

    One more thing, I apologize if I scared you with the false Pneumonia diagnosis. Thank you for your concern and prayers.

Soooo.....I have Pneumonia

Dear Pneumonia,

        I hate you. I really do. You try to rob me from living life and do things that are calling my name today,but you won't!No brotha, not today! Okay, I won't go to the beach or hang out with many friends, but I won't refuse to write this post and read a #1 New York Times Bestseller American Sniper, so ha!Take that you really mean monkey!

                                                               Sincerely,

                                                                             This poor, suffering soul.


    Okay,I'm really not all that dramatic, but let me tell ya something: me and Pneumonia have a history together. Pneumonia is like that ex-girlfriend you never want to see in your life again but she keeps on re-appearing all the time because she knows how to get to you( btw guys or girls-I'm not saying you shall do this, but I would find it funny if you did call your ex's Pneumonia based on what you just read. It's mean, but it would be funny).Think about it. She's got your phone number, and if you change it, she can figure out what it is. She knows where you live because she has connections everywhere. No matter where you go or what you change in your life, she finds you and wants to END you! Yeah, Pneumonia is that ex, except I never wanted to go out with her in the first place.

I probably have had Pneumonia on a yearly basis since 2007. It's definitely a seasonal allergy thing that's going on. There's just something about the cold at night that flares up this allergic reaction in my respiratory system where my lungs attract mucus so much so that I cough it up almost repetitiously. I invite the coughs because that means my body is expelling things that should not be in my system, yet the coughing can be violent at times. I do not mean to be gross,but when talking about sickness,sometimes you need to go into the details to have the reader or listener engage themselves into.

    To treat myself today, I bought Mucinex DM Liquid from a Walgreens. The pharmacist recommended it to me, alongside Tylenol, but I did not have the funds to  get both. Funny story though. After the recommendation, a consumer came up to me and recommended me to get Nyquil instead of Mucinex because of what Mucinex had done to him when he was sick one time. He said that the Mucinex caused him to drain everything all at once out of his body and made him more miserable than the Nyquil did. I don't know exactly what he meant by being drained, but while I knew he meant well, I was poised to listen to the licensed pharmacist instead. After buying the Mucinex, I had taken my first dosage when I got into my car at the store because I was a mess.

    I didn't have that great of a night's sleep last night but made up for it when I slept from 8 am until 1 pm today.I feel well rested and good energy-wise. Here's the thing. I felt that way yesterday during the day as well before I had taken Mucinex while I was at work, so who knows besides God what is going to happen tonight. I should expect a different story now that I am medicated but we will see. I am hoping and praying to be well by tomorrow so I can attend church and be apart of an important meeting. This extrovert cannot be cooped up in the house for two days!! I'm surprised that I am not going crazy right now. I guess there is a joy in all this to find that I needed such a restful, quiet Saturday. I guess this is another breather I needed to have.

    I do have to be honest about something, however. As I am writing this blog, I'm thinking about the hundreds or even thousands of children who suffer from pneumonia and diseases like Malaria and have little to no access to medication. They only have the cards they're dealt with by improving from nature's medical remedies or suffer more by becoming more infected by mosquitoes or airborn diseases that are going around. My heart goes out to them.When thinking upon those kinds of things, it helps put your situation in perspective.

    Some of you might be asking why am I writing a post about this. While there are big events happening that people see in the news like social injustice, there's something about connecting with people with the mundane that helps humanity live together. So many times when I was going through minute events in my life, I have found enjoyment and care with reading or listening to someone speak about themselves going through the same thing I was going through. It let's me know that I am not alone. See what I mean? What may be an insignificant post to someone can be the post that makes the day for someone else. Plus, blogging is a practical way for me to just vent at times. Yes, I'm vulnerable to the world's opinion of me when I post about something,but that's better than cooping up my voice inside my heart. So anyway, I think a lot of people can relate to having Pneumonia and may get something out of this post.