Whateverthehellitisitis Is Hard To Get Rid Of

Four and a half weeks ago today, I took sick with something that had me coughing like crazy 24 hours a day.  It was a Saturday and I suspected it would end up with bronchitis so I prepared myself to go see my regular doctor first thing Monday.  Sure enough, I had a touch of "onset bronchitis" and enough other symptoms for him to give me a hip shot with antibiotics, a prescription for some pill antibiotics and some codeine laced cough syrup.

None of it worked and I went into 'full misery stage' with what I dubbed, "Whateverthehellitisitis." And for day after day, night after night I coughed, hacked, spit and cussed enough 'stuff' from my innards to fill an oil drum.

No way I could sleep, especially in my own bed, because  my coughing is best described as being "Violent." That's what it took to get that 'stuff' from my lungs up high enough for me to hack it out.  Many times these coughing/hacking fits went on for twenty minutes or more, leaving me exhausted from the effort.  I couldn't sleep lying down for sure because it would start immediately once my head hit the pillow.  So I ended up sleeping in the guest bedroom or a chair sitting up where I might squeeze in twenty minutes of sleep before it started again.  I was miserable around the clock.

I had another appointment with my doctor in the third week of my "Whateverthehellitisitis," and much to my surprise, he said my lungs were clear. "CLEAR!"   I can't sleep because of the wheezing, whistling and gurgling.  And my wife thought cats were fighting outside our bedroom window because of the noise coming from my nose and mouth.  And he says my lungs are CLEAR!  And he qualified that by saying I was "Fit!"  So, in spite of my continuing discomfort, lack of energy, lack of sleep, hardly able to take a deep breath, coughing, hacking, spitting and cussing every five minutes, my prognosis is I'm "Fit."

So I only had two choices, be fit or die.  I'm still here and haven't coughed a single time today.  And I've even done some work around here in spite of the heat.  I must be well, or fit, or Whateverthehell I'm supposed to be at this stage because I feel pretty good.

I'll probably go to my grave not knowing what "Whateverthehellitisitis" is, but I damn sure know that it can knock a fully grown man for a loop.