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.”