Persistent Cough
by Elizabeth Beldon
English Summary by Courtney Hanrahan and Richard Laurion
I toss and turn at night and cannot get to sleep. I keep struggling with this. I have this constant painful cough. And, remember, you told me I can’t get the flu shot. If I did it could impact my lungs. I thought you were wrong but I’ve gotten something. It’s not the flu, I know it isn’t. My lungs really hurt! When I cough it hurts. I get a shooting pain on either side of my throat and down into my chest. What can I do? I notice that, when I lay down it gets better . . . that seems strange. When I stand up, that’s when it becomes unbearable. I get a pain in my chest again, could it be bacterial? Remember when I was going through Physical Therapy? I was being treated for pneumonia, remember, do you think it’s back? Are there tests I can take to be examined? Maybe an x-ray . . . I’m fed up with the medications and all of this stuff and just what to know what to do.
