Whooping cough?

Chris and I went to the doctor this morning.  He went because he's gained close to 30 pounds in the last 12 weeks and me because of a cough I've had for two to three weeks.  As I predicted the doctor took some of Chris's blood to run some tests and set up an appointment for a resting metabolism rate check.

When it came time to look at me though, I was in for a couple of surprises one of which was a chest x-ray and the other was the doctor predicting, after listening to me cough that the outcome of the x-ray would be that I had whooping cough (pertussiss).  He went on to explain that people 'our' age (he's close to me in age) are finding out the hard way that some of our imunizations are not working as they did when we were younger and we need boosters.  Oh, great.  Whooping cough...and where all have I been since I started coughing?  My parent's (in their 70's), my in-law's (in their 60's), Houston (all my new and old friends) and numerous other places.  I got to thinking of the newborn babies that I had just seen in the waiting room.  I didn't go near them---but I had coughed and even though I covered my mouth germs are escapable little critters.   ~sigh~  So, a few minutes of 'oh my goodness who all have I infected?' was going through my mind before the doctor came back and said "Nope, not whooping cough.  Just good old fashioned bronchitis."  ~sigh~ of relief.

So, why is it that you can have a cough for two to three weeks and feel fine, except for the cough; go see the doctor and he says "You've got bronchitis, you're sick." and *WHAM!!* you feel terrible....all you want to do is take a nap and not have to do anything?  This was even before I took any of the meds he prescribed...two different cough meds AND an antibiotic but no decongestant to help clear the head even though he saw fluid behind my ears.  Oh well, the pharmasist said I can take Sudafed with the other meds so I will.

I'm so happy I don't have whooping cough.