phlegmatic

"Phlegmatic" doesn't mean the same thing as "phlegmy," but I've always wanted to use the word in a blog post title. "Phlegmy" is a good word, too: it sounds vaguely French. "Greetings! I am Jacques Flémy, and today, we study the mating habits of porpoises!"

I took Mom's Bactrim last night, and an hour after downing the pill, it felt as if things had begun to clear up. I experienced about four hours without phlegmy bronchial sounds, and didn't cough the entire time.

But late this morning, I woke to a rattling chest and plenty of goo. My mother's Bactrim dosage is set for three times per week, which seems to imply that each tablet provides a lingering effect. Was last night's bliss the result of a placebo effect? Was this morning's nastiness the result of leftover buildup from before the Bactrim began to kick in? I'm beginning to think the answer to the first question is "yes," while the answer to the second question is "no." The pill alone can't explain my swing from chest-rattling to clear within an hour, and because I've beeen coughing up mucus since waking today, I doubt that this morning's buildup is simply the dead remains of a defeated infection. Upshot: I'm still infected, and still producing. What most likely happened is that the pill did little to nothing.

So I'm probably going to visit a clinic of some sort-- somewhere cheap, for the uninsured. Of course, in the States, "cheap" may mean $150-250, depending on where I go. I know a place on Route 1, not far from home, where I can probably get looked at and have some meds prescribed, all at a reasonable price. It's a place I've visited before, back in the 1998-2002 period when I lived in the apartment complex next to the clinic. The doc might even remember me.

More news later. It's 3:14PM; Mom's done with her shower, and about to step out and have lunch.


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