Pneumonia Psucks, but Everything's Better with Mom

Hey, readers!

Sorry it's been so long! I had a small bout of pneumonia and wasn't up for blogging.

About a week ago, I started to have a sore throat and a little cough. I was pretty pissed off, too. I keep my room pretty clean and wipe down all of those germ hot spots pretty regularly, so I didn't really understand how I could be sick.

Well, the sore throat got sore-er and the cough got stronger and I had body aches and chills and night sweats and to make a long story short, I wasn't having a good time with it at all.

I did get pretty lucky, though. I didn't feel really sick until Thursday and I only have one class then. So, the worst part of the pneumonia passed over the weekend. That night was awful. I couldn't sleep and I kept coughing up all of this mucus with blood in it.

I called my parents the next day and they told me to get over to the health center right away. The people at the health center sent me to the hospital to get chest x-rays to assess for pneumonia. The x-rays showed early pneumonia in the base of both my lungs.

The doctor wrote me a prescription for some antibiotics so after I got back from the hospital, I went to Walgreens to get it filled. That was an adventure in of itself. When I started walking to Walgreens, it started hailing and then the hail stopped and turned into freezing rain. When I got there, I handed the pharmacist my prescription and he said that the doctor didn't write the date on it, so he'd have to call it in. As it turns out, everybody at the health center was out to lunch and the pharmacist didn't know when they'd be back. He sent me home and told me to come back in two hours. So, I walked home in the freezing rain and turned around two hours later (by that time it was snowing) and I was finally able to get my antibiotics.

Later that night, I got a call from home. My parents found a flight from Denver to Des Moines, leaving in two hours and they were going to try their best to make sure my mom was on the flight. She felt badly that she wasn't able to take care of me. So, my dad rushed her to the airport but because of one thing or another, she checked in ONE MINUTE late and missed the flight. My mom called me, crying, to tell me that she wouldn't be able to come out that night. I told her that it was ok and I understand how hard they tried and how I appreciated the effort.

They found another flight for Saturday morning and my parents arrived at the airport two hours early, just to be sure my mom could get on the flight. For whatever reason, Denver International Airport was recovering from a power outage and the line to check in wrapped all the way around the terminal. The details are still a little fuzzy, but I do know that my dad had to kind of yell at some people to make sure my mom got on her plane. And she was able to board, but her suitcase didn't make it.

After Mom went through security, she had to take the train to her terminal. Because of the power outage, the escalators weren't working, so she had to run up two flights of stairs. Her gate was at the very end of the terminal, and again because of the power outage, the moving sidewalks weren't working. So she had to run all the way down the hall. She made the plane, but just barely.

When she got to Des Moines, the weather was awful. There was freezing rain and snow and it was nothing I'd ever want to drive in. But, she drove in it to get to me. I cried when I saw her because I was happy that she'd come, but felt terrible about everything she had to go through.

I packed a whole bunch of stuff and we moved into a hotel for the weekend so she could take care of me. I was feeling miserable, but everything seems that much better when Mom's around. Plus, I was kind of scared because I'd never been seriously sick without her or my dad before. She took good care of me and I was so grateful to have her there.

On Monday she took me back to the doctor to get more medicine, which has helped tremendously. She also went to Wal-Mart and bought me armloads of groceries before going to the airport to catch her flight home.

I've been feeling much better lately and I know one thing for sure: I need to come up with an amazing Mothers' Day present!