You Are Now Entering the Twilight Zone

 Still no voice. Good thing I can write! Our primary care office is closed on Friday. After another night spent doubled over coughing non-stop, HeWho drove me to the ER. That is what the prompt on the phone message suggests.

I am not a big fan of going to the ER with things that can be handled in the office. I was so miserable, though. My foot was hurting, and all wrapped up in an ace bandage and I had HeWho's cane to lean on. I was coughing and I know how bad I looked because I looked in the mirror before I left, my hair was .... well, I could have been a candidate to stand in for England's prime minister. I was clean, just not groomed. I had a chill that morning, so I took a hot shower to warm up. This was after the cool shower I took earlier because I was sweating and hot.

I hobbled into an empty reception area and a person at the desk brought me into what I assumed was a triage area and sat me down. She handed me a clipboard full of documents and told me to fill one out, then left. Did my best without glasses. It was just a permission to treat document. Only needed my printed name, signature, birthdate and phone number. Oh, and my primary doctor's name.

I finished and we just sat there. After about 7 minutes a nurse came in and escorted me to a treatment room, had me take a seat on a stretcher, and left. I kid you not. When we went into the treatment area, I saw no nurses at the nurses desk. Actually the entire place looked deserted.

The nurse came back in and took my vitals and asked a few questions, then left after telling me the doctor's name and that he would be in shortly. After an hour and a half my bladder started telling me to hunt down a place to go. Both of us exited the room and saw a woman going through. Since I had no voice, HeWho politely asked where I should go. I was doubled over coughing and she suddenly said, "WAIT, let me get a specimen cup in case they need a urine." Then she set out on a search for the illusive specimen cup, disappearing to somewhere unseen.

By the time she returned, my pants were wet, and I was quite unhappy. She handed me the cup and to my surprise, it had a label with my name and info and a barcode. No time to actually see the patient, but they were right on top of billing. I went to the bathroom and cleaned up as best I could before heading back to my assigned room. I was now having a chill. HeWho went to find a blanket and came back with one from a warmer and said that the nurse told him it would be quite a while, since he was tending two critical patients and they only had one doctor.

Of course, I wanted critical patients to receive care before me. But this hospital was deserted. I saw no other patients (doesn't mean they weren't there). No people waiting to see about anyone. I felt like I may have entered the Twilight Zone. This ER looked like it was from another century. I thought I saw a lone computer in what I thought was the triage area, but nothing else looked modern in the least. They did not ask for my insurance information or who would be responsible for the bill. So how did they get enough information to create a file for billing!

 I had to provide way more information just to get to see a doctor for a check-up. Not to mention that no one questioned me about Covid. The receptionist in the doctor's office asked us if we had been out of the country, or around anyone with Covid or if we had been around who had covid. Come to think of it, I was displaying symptoms of Covid!

After two hours, we simply stood up and walked out. Nobody challenged us, not that there was anybody to do so. It was surreal. We came home and I sat around coughing and running to the bathroom to really cough. I did change my clothes upon arriving home, just so you know. As evening approached, I started feeling crappier, so I took a dose of the Mucinex Night Shift thinking to forestall the nighttime coughing spasms that had me wondering if my toenails were coming up.

By 7 o'clock I was feeling the effects of the Mucinex and the cough seemed to be calm, so I went to bed. I was in a half sleep state with my faithful companions by my side. Totally relaxed. This is when the man who slept until NOON decided he should join me. He told Toni Louise and Mr. BoJangles to go get in bed and began his own bedtime ritual.

Every single sound he made was magnified in my aching ears. It sounded like a power washer was employed to brush his teeth. How can you make noise putting a towel away? His dogs did their usual routine of jumping in and out of the bed, Bo tried to convince Eddie to play with him by biting his ears. Toni sounded like she was hacking up something. So, I had 10 minutes of bliss.

I gave up and turned on the TV. HeWho fell asleep after about 10 minutes of TV and I was fully awake. I watched TV for two hours and then that tickle was in the back of my throat. I got up immediately and grabbed a cough drop in hoe of suppressing another night of coughing. Did not work. 

I watched the clock and counted minutes until I could swallow another dose. Coughing the entire time. I spilled it on the floor and decided to just take a big swig out of the bottle. There is only four ounces of children's medications in a bottle, a safety factor to make sure they couldn't drink enough to cause them to become seriously compromised. I am hoping the same applies to adults.

I slept on the loveseat in a sitting position. Still coughed, but not as much. Slept in fits and spells until 7 am. Felt somewhat better, not as weak. The weirdest thing is that the pain in my foot is completely gone. I can walk with ease. Maybe I AM experiencing a Twilight Zone episode!