Keep taking the tablets

On the way home from visiting my parents last night, after being sick for the better part of two weeks, my other half pretty much ordered to me to book a doctors appointment. The confirmation came through within a couple of hours (while still en-route - it’s a long way), for an appointment the same afternoon. Unheard of. Immediately after getting home I walked to the doctors, booked myself in, and sat waiting for my name to come up on the screens. I think it’s perhaps the third time in twenty years that I’ve ever had to visit the doctor for me. After sitting in the waiting room, trying to avoid the gaze of a blonde woman sitting opposite (I’m still not sure if she liked me, or was amazed at how ill I looked), my name came up on the screen. I saw a nurse - not a doctor - who asked all manner of questions before requesting I pull my shirt up. While she prodded around with a stethoscope, I tried to breathe deeply, and coughed spectacularly. “You have an infection in your left lung. I’m going to prescribe a course of antibiotics, and steroids - starting immediately you get home. I want you to take 8 steroid tablets, and 2 antibiotics immediately, then follow the instructions on the labels”. I’m going to rattle by the end of the week. The kids giggled while watching me down the first round of tablets. They’re all pretty hopeless at tablets - I crammed them in my mouth like M&Ms and washed them down with a swig of water. You know the worst thing? The kids had prepared an enormous birthday dinner for me - the table was crammed with all manner of “party food” - cold cuts of meat, bread, cheese, dips, vegetables, pickles - you name it - it was on the table. I didn’t really feel like eating any of it. But I did. I felt so sorry for them. After dinner I quietly took myself to bed, and slept straight through until morning. The nurse had warned me that the steroids might affect my sleep - she wasn’t wrong. I woke at 4am, 5am, 6am, and finally 7am before scraping myself out of bed. Apparently the steroids will make me hungry too. I don’t think I’ve ever been on steroids before. So. Here we are. I’ve been sitting quietly in the study all day, getting on with work, and making starring appearances on calls from time to time - where everybody commented on how rough I looked and sounded. Wonderful. The good thing? If I sit here and don’t talk, I’m not too bad. I guess I just need to keep taking the tablets, and see what happens. p.s. I got my age wrong on the previous post - I’m 52, not 53. Apparently I’m now old enough that I have to work it out.