I haven’t slept for a week.
I have bronchitis. A persistent, violent cough. During the day, it’s bad. The coughing is so hard, I bend over. I nearly threw up today, standing in line at the bank. My voice is a gravelly whisper.
I’m on a regular diet of chicken soup and orange juice. I haven’t had a Coke in 7 days. 7UP is my new friend.
I can’t stand for too long because I get dizzy. I get hot flashes. Headaches from the persistent coughing. My chest aches and I can feel my diaphram revolting to the constant badgering.
During the day, it’s bad. At night, it’s impossible. I get regular coughing spasms every twenty seconds.
I have three kinds of nocturnal coughs. The first is the straight forward series of six. The first two loosen up the junk in my lungs and the last four bring it up my throat. The second is a kind of slowly spiraling series of small coughs. These don’t let me catch my breath. It takes about twenty seconds to clear the cycle and all the way, I cannot breathe. All I can do is try to slow them down by inhaling between them. If I try too hard, the phlygm goes right back down my airtube and I choke. All I can do is wait it out.
The third kind of cough is the wet, soggy hard cough. Usually in a series of two. This one causes physical pain. I’m usually meeping after it.
I cannot sleep. The Big Fucking Q does not help. Each time I’ve fallen asleep, I’ve awoken without breath, choking. I’m the only one here.
My HMO doctor will not see me until Monday. I called last Monday to make an appointment. I told them it was an emergency. They told me, “Go to the emergency room.” Yeah. Like I have the money for that.
I cannot sleep. I haven’t slept in a week. Not more than four hours.
Can’t sleep; cough will kill me.
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You know who doesn’t want a National Health Care System? Rich people. Because they have medical insurance and they don’t know what it’s like to be poor and not have medical insurance. Or, at the very least, to not have good medical insurance.