10am to 3pm at Beth Israel

It turned out to be no big deal, but it still took from 10am to 3pm to establish that a sudden, urgent cough I developed was probably viral but not the Flu.

I woke at about 5am with a cough and a feeling I couldn't breathe.  My best guess now is that a post-nasal drip had fed a pool of mucus, which, in turn, cut off my breathing in a "sleep apnea" sort of way.  It had also made my throat sore from the bottom of my nose to the upper reaches of my lungs.  Even after a good cough or two it felt hard to breathe--probably the worst "sore lungs" feeling I've had so far, and I know we're on the lookout  for lung ailments.

I called the on-duty doctor and, after reporting no fever, no chills, no aches, nor anything else beyond a cough that was way more powerful than it was productive, he recommeded honey/lemon/tea.

But then the outpatient team came on duty at about 8am, and it turned into a request to come in, get a blood test, nasal swab, and chest x-ray, starting at a 10am appointment.  I drove myself in (for the first time, maybe ever)

While at the hospital, my temperature crept upwards, at first just 99.2. Some of it might have been that I was wearing a mask (which can warm the mouth).  So they couldn't take my temp until I'd chilled, mask off, in a private room for at least 5 minutes.  It kept inching upwards: 99.9, then 100.something, then, tested again with a different thermometer, it was still 99 something.

A nose swab is basically the longest, skinniest Q-tip you can imagine, inserted up your nose for 10 seconds until the urge to sneeze is unbearable.  And then they do it on the other nostrile.

Then it was off for two chest x-rays, just to make sure nothing lurked at the bottom of my lungs (they'd sounded fine via stethescope), and then a kind of long wait for the viral swab and the x-rays to come back. In the end, everything was negative, which doctors seem to be alarmed by (since it means they don't know the cause)

So they sent me home with a 5-day Tamiflu (Oseltamivir Phosphate) prescription, which disrupts the life cycle of Flu A and Flu B.  And I fell into a really long nap (which I must have needed)

A day later, I can still erupt into a violent, semi-productive cough, but mostly my waking hours are symptom free (last night was a big "post nasal drip" night again).