In my chest, definitely not in my throat, which is clear. Right now I'm not panicky, but when I'm having an episode I do get panicky and have to force myself to relax.

Pleurisy. Aw fuck. I hadn't thought of that. I can breathe, just not super consistently. And yeah, when I cough, it hurts.

I'm worried about money. Urgent Care is cheap, but I'm not convinced they wouldn't slap an inhaler in front of me and send me on my way. The ER is $100 copay, but any actual hospital stays appear to be 20%(!!).

I don't know about the trouble breathing, but you can easily pull a muscle from coughing, and then it hurts like a son of a bitch every time you cough.

Kristin, most places will negotiate payment plans. And while even with insurance, the health system is made of lame, your health is WORTH IT.

Lillian is 3. Mal turned 3 last month (he's 3 weeks older than Lillian). Owen is 4, as is Annabel. They were basically due date twins. (Lillian and Isaac were also due date twins!)

Aidan turned 5 in February.

{{{Kristin}}}

Do you get whistling in your chest when you breathe? When my asthma was really bad a couple of weeks ago, I'd wake myself up with the wheezing.

The inhaler may not be getting down far enough into the lungs if there's crud or stickiness in the air passages at the bottom of the lungs.

I'm going in to the Urgent Care. That co-pay is doable. I'm probably fine, but you're right, better safe.

Definitely better safe, Kristin. Sounds like you need more ABs anyway, and something the cough. Poor baby. Health~ma, babe.

Kristin, best of luck at Urgent Care. You're definitely better off being safe. Take care.

Aidan is FIVE? Good lord.

Of course, now that it's 11pm, my migraine is gone and I'm kinda hungry and bored...and not too sleepy cause I napped for four hours earlier. OY.

And I have a feeling annoying trainer woman will not let us out early enough to make the "get in at 7:30" flight instead of the "get in at 11:30" flight. Fingers are crossed, though.

I have no pneumonia advice other than crossing my fingers for you to feel better soon. Damn!

Poor, miserable Kristin. I hope the doc in a box people help. Sometimes it takes a while for an inhaler to kick in.

Have you tried breathing steam and keeping something warm on your chest, like a heating pad? I use one of those buckwheat pillow things you heat in the microwave. It can ease the pain in your chest. I have an electric face steamer that's well worth it for breathing steam. Standing in a hot shower several times during the day also helps, as does anything that increases humidity. I'm also a devotee of Vick's Vaporub, but I suspect that's mostly psychological, since it's what my mother did when I was sick.

As the queen of the respiratory infection, I have an entire arsenal to field against it.