“I’ve been
hacking up stuff for a couple days, and it’s turning green.”
“It sounds
like the virus that’s going around,” I said. “It’ll last three or four or five
or six more days. Medical science doesn’t do anything dramatic.”
“At home I’d
tough it out. But I have meetings all week, and I need something to knock it
out. When can you get here?”
If you read
this blog you know my heart sinks when I hear “I need something to knock it
out….” It guarantees an unsatisfying visit. Either the guest will feel
resentful if he doesn’t get an antibiotic, or I’ll give an antibiotic (if it
seems like he’ll blow his top, and sometimes I’m too slow), and I’ll leave
hating myself.
Now, readers,
you’re probably thinking: “Yes, isn’t it disgraceful that doctors give useless
antibiotics so often that patients expect them. But sometimes you need an
antibiotic. How can you tell?...” The
answer is so surprising that you and your doctor may not believe it. In an
otherwise healthy person (infants and the elderly excepted) the only common
disease with a cough that antibiotics cure is pneumonia. Everything else is a
virus. ..in my opinion (my lawyer insisted I add that).
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