Blarphggthspithdyrghtzk!

The only positive thing about getting the flu is that, once it's over, you feel so damn good. There is the pesky old phlegm to deal with, though that has improved. Now I sound less like a creature from another galaxy when I try to cough it up and more like the Tasmanian Devil. I can tell my neighbor across the hall is doing better from the Warner Brothers cartoon-like noises she is loudly emitting.

I think I mentioned the spot on my back that Doogie Hauser said was nothing. I've been taking Bactrim for a few days, which is an excellent antibiotic, but the spot gets more sensitive and painful by the day. I don't know what, exactly, to think. Guess I'll give the Bactrim a chance to work. And if this turns out to be the harbinger of my demise, so be it. But, somehow, I don't think it will kill me. I've been a lot closer to death than this many, many times. Either I'm a tough old bird or I have some purpose in life that I have yet to fulfill. If so, I sure wish I knew what that is.

There's not much to say. The flu always leaves me feeling weak, like a wrung-out washrag, so I don't have a lot of energy. Plus, there's the infection, which shall (evidently) remain nameless, as if its identity is a threat to Homeland Security. In fact, it's so need-to-know that my doctor hasn't ordered a culture to find out what we're dealing with. I'm betting on staph, which seems to be my body's bacteria of choice. However, if it goes on long enough, the staph will begin to feel so at home that it will invite a bunch of its little bacteria friends in and they'll all party hearty! They'll probably get so festive that they'll expand the party to other areas of my body. After all, they ARE near my spine which is kind of like the on-ramp to my bloodstream, which is the superhighway to the rest of my anatomy.

But don't worry. As I said, Bactrim is a really good antibiotic. 

Now that I've digsusted you, alarmed you, or caused you to stop reading altogether, I will stop. I have some phlegm to hack up, and I have a pain pill waiting. My back is begging piteously for me to hurry up and take the damned thing.

Remember, not a word about my infection to anyone until I give the all clear. Shhh. 

You, too.

Be well, good people. You too, not-so good people. You all deserve the world and what lies beyond it.