I Really Shouldn't Share This But....

Well, I am going to share it, because it was horribly embarassing and gross. So, I figured, why not put it on cyberspace? Sounds like a perfect sharing opportunity to me.

Let me preface this with a little bit of background...I have had a nagging cold all summer. The dang thing won't go away. Finally, during the past couple of weeks my chest has decided to let go of all of the crap that has been growing in my lungs. In doing so, there have been a few less than pleasant experiences, but this is the worst.

So...about a week ago I was fed up with the cold. Not only was I experience cold symptoms for the 6th week in a row, but now I was having asthma attacks and I don't have asthma.  I went to pulmonary specialist thinking that maybe I do have asthma, my dad was my age when he got bronchitis, it went to asthma and now he has been dealing with it ever since. Good news on two fronts here, a.) I am not allergic to anything, whew! b.) I don't have asthma. BUT, I was having reactions that required an inhaler until my lungs could get a hold of themselves.

Oh bless that pulmonologist, (is that even a word???) that inhaler saved my life. Suddenly, I could breathe, and if I could feel a coughing fit start, well, take 2 puffs of albuterol and man, I could suddenly breathe again. A side affect of being able to breathe again was that chunks of stuff in my lungs started coming up. I know that sounds gross, but this is integral to my story.

Well, we have at work a couple of interns for the summer. These interns have been great, they have helped out a lot since summer seems like it is absolutely insane-o. One of the interns came over to my desk one morning last week and started asking me how I was feeling, he really thought my problems were directly related to West Nile Virus...nope, no can do. So, he's talking and talking and talking. Meanwhile, I can feel a cough attach starting, then as I'm coughing I feel a huge chunk of phlegm dislodge in my lungs and now I understand why my lungs are coughing, they want this crap out of there! In a panic, I started looking around and as luck would have it, I was out of tissues. The intern was still talking and talking and talking. The inevitable happened and all I could do was cover my mouth and let what was going to happen, happen. Sure enough a chunk of stuff came out that was big enough to fill my palm. Oh it was disgusting. Bless the intern's heart. He didn't even miss a beat, even though there was no way that he did not see what had just happened.
I got up, excused myself, trying to hide my hand and went to the bathroom to disinfect myself.

Yes, that is my story and I have told everyone I possibly can to find out if I am the only person this has happened to. I can't help but think that I'm not the only one having been through this embarassing episode? Can I????

I will leave you with a happy picture that has absolutely nothing to do with my story. Doesn't this bird feeder look serene? Well, actually it was the site of a bloody accident, but that will have to be a different story for a different day!