Diagnosis Dilemma

I am incredibly fortunate to have been blessed in life with a series of great family physicians, starting with Dr. Henry Birnbaum, and now with Dr. Boris Gimbarevsky, who took over his practise. I pulled my t-shirt over my head and hopped up on the table in Dr. Boris' examining room as soon as he asked me how he could help me.

I outlined how I'd been feeling for the past two days and said he'd probably want to have a listen to my lungs.

It took Dr. Boris all of two seconds to start shaking his head.

"Take a deep breath in and out", he had instructed and I did my best to comply, I really did.

But the wheezing rattle that emanated from me as Dr. Boris listened on his stethoscope was enough.

"You sound bad, you sound really bad, in fact you sound terrible."

As he prescribed me antibiotics for my bronchial infection, I quickly began negotiating.

"So, I guess I probably shouldn't be running for a few days?"

"Not if you want to get better."

"But I've just started another marathon clinic!"

"I suggest you get better first."

"How about if I took three days off?", I suggested, thinking ahead to my Sunday run.

Dr. Boris sighed as he so often does in dealing with Hemingsons.

"Are you still running with your heart rate monitor?"

I nodded in assent.

"Easy on Sunday, IF you're feeling better, and keep your heart rate down, you should be okay. And you'll need to use the Symbicort", he added, referring to my asthmas inhaler.

After a few minutes of pleasantries and getting caught up with Dr. Boris I immediately took pains to get my antibiotics down my gullet as quickly as possible. Let the healing begin!

So, rest for Thursday, Friday and Saturday and hope that an easy run on Sunday has me back on track.