At 9 p.m. last night, couldn’t tolerate pain in my throat and Ed took me to the ER at Cape Coral Hospital. They did my registration right away, decided I should not be “fast tracked” but should instead see a doctor because my blood pressure was way up, so we waited three hours for that. During this time I could barely sit up and settled for assuming the fetal position on a love seat in the waiting room. Then they got me on a gurney in a private room and a PA eventually came by. He had the nurse take at hroat swab and a nose swab and ordered a chest x-ray and these came back negative for strep, flu and pneumonia. But he confirmed that I had a severe upper respiratory infection and ordered Tylenol with codeine in a cherry solution. The nurse gave it to me and I thought my throat was going to burst into flames. Of course, it eased up in a bit and I felt better. He gave me a prescription for an antibiotic, and told me to buy Mucinex over the counter for coughing.

They gave me a 5-ounce sheet for warmth and, having anticipated the way hospitals handle these things, I had brought my down parka. I put it on over my hospital gown and it saved my life.

Ed sat with me but, at midnight, he went home to give Brunswick his epilepsy med that we had forgotten about, and came back.

It was early a.m. Sunday -- no open pharmacies, we came home. This morning, I dragged myself to the phone and called the local Publix and their pharmacy, also the CVS pharmacy -- they both open mid morning on weekends and I couldn't bear not getting the pain killer for another three hours. Meanwhile I am dehydrating because I cannot even sip water -- I cough it right up.

Ed pulled himself together and went looking for an open Walgreen's and came back with everything I needed, bless him. I started with the codeine because I couldn’t swallow any pills right away. Then I took the antibiotic. The Mucinex has to wait a little longer because I still can’t keep water down and the pill is huge.

I haven’t been this sick in years.

xx, Teal