Low-grade fever, bubbling in the back of my throat every time I take a breath, wake up coughing, always tired. It's been this way for days and days, not getting any better, so it's time for a visit to the doctor.
Naturally, he can't find anything. He can confirm that there's something wrong, but medical science is not to the point where the medical clinician can look down the back of your throat and say, "Yep, you've got Virus #3888283-A, and it's making mincemeat out of your lung tissue right now. We have an antidote right here..."
Nope. Doc says, "Well, it's more likely viral than bacterial, I'm not seeing any redness from infection, but I'll go ahead and write you up a prescription for the antibiotic if it doesn't get any better. And I'll give you some strong cough syrup. Other than that, you'll just have to burn it out."
This doesn't sound like medicine has made any improvements since the 1918 flu epidemic. If it's a virus, there's still nothing they can do for you, other than making you as comfortable as possible.
So I go home and hang onto my prescriptions like a good little boy, waiting to see if things get any better. Always tired. Aching body. Taking regular cough medicines during the day, the codeineated stuff at night, trying not to aggravate the situation by doing anything out of the ordinary, like breathing. Wake up every morning and start instantly coughing, hard, but can't bring anything up or out. Only thing that happens is I end up with muscle strain and a headache.
Still running a slight fever. Waking up in a river of sweat every morning, have to shower it off just to avoid shivering.
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