I haven't written a post in a few days because I've been, um, kinda coughing up blood and stuff?

I'm going to skip the gory details, but the short version is I developed a bad upper respiratory infection that left me hacking and spitting for days (days in which I DID NOT SKIP CLINICAL) Then I hacked up some "blood-tinged sputum", a fun and slightly alarming term I have so far only used in the context of patients. (Since this is really the biggest thing I've got going on in my life right now, you can see why I've been staying away from blogging, right?)

Today, I went over to my local Really Crappy Neighborhood Hospital, where I had unfortunate encounters with both reception staff, med students, and a snappy arrogant resident who's "really interested in dermatology and could you just indulge me a minute? I could prescribe you erythromyocin/benzoyl peroxide cream that would really clear up your face."

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was at the dermatologist. I thought I was at a FAMILY PRACTICE because I've been COUGHING UP BLOOD.

This was after the very pretty and slightly greasy med student told me that my throat was red and I might have, and I quote, "something called strep throat". SOMETHING CALLED STREP THROAT. Because I am a third year nursing student who might have missed Strep Throat Day in class? Because I took microbiology and in fact spent a good deal of time staring at streptococcus itself? Because I have never been an American kid who got this mysterious strep throat every single winter?

Then Dr. Dermatologist also made some snitty, asinine remarks which I don't want to go into in great detail, but involved my birth control, my safe sex practices, and my history of pap smears. Again, clearly related to my sore throat, fever, and bloody cough. Apparently, he's horrified that I'm married in my early twenties. I know, it's so rude of me to have found someone to be happy with when I could have been learning how to pop zits and humiliate patients?

Fun times. Anywhoo, the blood didn't seem too concerning to him, although he did say it could possibly be tuberculosis and wow, that would suck. He said the possibility was remote, which was the only nice thing he said to me, and offered to prescribe me robitussin with codeine, which I politely declined. I'm sick, but I don't need codeine.So I went home, feeling pissed but also relieved that I am not actually dying.

And then.

And then tonight I coughed up a lot of blood.

But I'm currently watching Grey's Anatomy and just decided that I need to put this out of my mind for a few minutes and see which Grey makes into the Great Beyond.