Cold

I caught a cold,

and it turned into pneumonia.

I went to my new, young doctor.

He took some tests and

confirmed the diagnosis.

He asked me what I wanted.

“Funny,” I thought. “Ok, I need

some cough medicine

that will knock me out for a couple

of days.”

He concurred.

He said that

an antibiotic would help. Did that

sound reasonable to me? he asked.

“Do I have a say in this?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Ok, then, give me an

antibiotic.”

He wrote out the prescriptions,

and I went to have them filled at our

neighborhood pharmacy. When the

pharmacist gave me the cough medicine, it

was a child sized bottle, only half full.

It said to take five milligrams every four to six

hours. I had no idea what five milligrams was.

I googled “five milligrams”. Wiki couldn’t tell me.

So I just swigged it from the bottle directly.

Three down, it was all gone.

I felt like calling the doctor

and telling him I was an adult. I needed bigger bottles with

better tasting syrup with bigger shots. “Doctor, you have to step

up to the plate. I’m not used to being treated like a child.”

To make things worse, there were only six pills in the antibiotic

pack. I was to take two immediately, and one each day after that.

I guess I was ok with that, but six pills were not what I’m used to.

I usually get a bottle of fifteen to twenty tablets of anything I take.

It was a Monday when I bought the medicine.

Tuesday I wasn’t any better.

Wednesday I wasn’t better.

I decided I would call the doctor Thursday morning.

Thursday morning I got up, and my cough was gone.

My energy was back, I walked up and down the stairs without

getting winded.

I didn’t call the doctor. What would I say? You didn’t give

me enough medicine? What if he asked, “how are you feeling?”

I would have to say, “I think I’m over the pneumonia.”

I’m still confused on the milligrams. I’ve looked on baby charts

and I think 5 milligram is like one teaspoon. If he asks

me again, I’m going to say, “give me an adult bottle where I can

get ten to twelve swigs out of it. And make sure it tastes good.

And no teaspoons please. Teaspoons are for the littles.

And don’t use words

like milligrams.”