Cough.. Cough... Wheez... Wheez

It started about three weeks ago. In fact I had the cough when I went to the doctor's appointment. I have really bad allergies so it is not uncommon for me to be sneezing and snotting most of the time. But, this cough showed up. Last week I started coughing stuff up. Sorry if that is gross, but like I said I'm used to mucus. I sound like a pack-a-day smoker (and I'm not - don't smoke at all). Sunday it really started to get me down. I slept most of the day. Well, slept when I wasn't coughing anyway. Also I came up with a congested nose and ears. I don't recall having all of these at once since I had the H1N1 in 2009, and then I also had a fever. I was really hoping that it would resolve on it's own because we don't have health insurance yet. I haven't had health insurance since last October and I survived daycare germs. But, this just wasn't going away. I finally broke down and called my doctor yesterday morning. By then I was thinking the worst. I figured that she would probably suspect pneumonia and want chest x-rays. I was adding up the dollar signs between the office visit, the hospital, and the radiologist. Not to mention the medication. If it was real bad already, and I could hear myself coughing clear from my toes, I might end up with a hospital stay. Thankfully she said she thought it was Bronchitis. I still had to shell out over $50 for antibiotics and steroids, but it was better than the thousands that I was preparing for. Here I sit now, popping pills and coughing, wheezing, and blowing my nose. I guess I needed a little down time. Thank goodness for Internet and the Food Network.