loverly

For 16 days now, I have been working my way through various stages of what turned out to be severe pneumonia.

When I got a chest x-ray a week ago, the Thai doctor showed me what my lungs looked like on the computer screen. There was a big white cloud on the lower left side, and diffuse spider web looking things with white dots throughout the rest of my lungs. He looked at me and said, quite simply, "You are pneumonia." Apparently rather a serious case of it, too. He kept tilting his head at me and asking if I was short of breath, which I confirmed that I was. I asked if I should take Amoxicillin. He pointed at the screen and told me that Amoxicillin was not strong enough to fight that big white blob. He doubted that regular Augmentin would be either. In the end, I was put on high dose Augmentin along with Doxycycline, and sent home to rest.

So that's what I've been doing. Sleeping, watching movies, reading books, praying, showering, and trying to breathe. My dear coworkers have kept me supplied with soup and fruit and regular lung assessments. One afternoon, 3-year-old Nenana came over to visit and curled up in my lap for a few minutes. And my sweet friends and family have been praying and writing messages from afar. My brother and sister-in-law even sent me a hilarious recording of "Wouldn't it be Loverly?" from the musical My Fair Lady... sung in a chipmunk voice.

I was inspired by their little creative venture. So I've re-written the words to the same song, to commemorate and make light of my pulmonary affliction.

"Wouldn't it be Lovely?" (the pneumonia version)

by Heidi Friesen

All I want is a bit of air

Sing this song and have breath to spare

The strength to leave my chair

Oh wouldn't it be loverly?

No more cough robbing me of sleep

No more sweat soaking all my sheets

The proper urge to eat

Oh wouldn't it be loverly?

Oh so loverly feeling every alveolus fill!

I would write and dance and sing operettas with all the frills.

Breathing easy and breathing deep

Fever gone, steady on my feet

To be pneumonia-free -

Oh wouldn't it be loverly

Loverly, loverly, loverly, loverly!