Reasons It's Not Fun to Have Pneumonia or Similar Respiratory Illnesses

1.) You have to stay in bed. And not do anything. Because when you do leave your bed, you wheeze and cough in a really unattractive, unflattering way. You also feel like your limbs are made of lead so movement becomes challenging. And not in that fun-I'm-doing-the-crossword-puzzle-in-the-New-York-Times kind of way.

2.) Steroids make you puffy. Ew. And this makes fitting into your skinny jeans tres difficult.

3.) Reading is fun. For a little while. So is watching episode after episode of TV show. Eventually this becomes old hat. Even if that TV show is wonderful, like Pushing Daisies.

4.) Inhalers make it hard to focus. So, on top of being wheezy, you are woozy and therefore wholly unproductive. Therefore, it is easy to get behind in work work and schoolwork. Boo.

5.) You cannot work if you cannot stand or move without wheezing or woozing. No work means no money. No money means no shoes, no black eyeliner, and no groceries.

6.) Pneumonia makes you exhausted. Sleeping is nice, but day after day after day. It leaves you desperate for a little energy, a little fun.

7.) Coughing from your wheezy, tight, foggy chest is rather painful.

8.) People are not sympathetic to your cause. They seem to think it's easy to fake respiratory illness. They also lack a basic understanding of pulmonary problems. You can't catch someone's astma, fyi.

9.) Breathing treatments take me immediately back to being twelve and chubby and awkward with my Nancy Drew books and Audrey Hepburn dresses that wouldn't be cool until I graduated from college. Talk about a painful place to land.

Anyway, I'm glad I'm starting to get better. Yay!