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My 4 year-old granddaughter, Lucy, has been explaining my recent illness by flatly stating, “Grandpa’s got a bug in his lungs.” Thankfully after an almost two-week illness, I am ready to head back to the office… for half a day. (After all, “In Sickness and in Health” is the official name of my weekly blog, even though its host website is https://lawelderlaw.com/blog/.) During my bout with sinusitis—which morphed into bronchitis—I experienced several things worth sharing.
First, when we are healthy, we do take a lot for granted. I am grateful to be able to sleep in a bed again after many nights of trying to sleep in a chair.
Second, being a lawyer is not very helpful when you need medical care. One physician who did a follow-up checkup told me that the prior doctor warned her that “he is a lawyer.” I was not exactly sure how I should feel about that, but it was obvious that we lawyers cause medical personnel to act as though they are treating a sick cobra. Third, I enjoyed using Wikipedia to look up everything I could about my illnesses and medications. As a predominantly left-brained analytical, it is very satisfying to come home from a doctor’s office or the urgent care and look up information. It was very helpful to understand the diagnosis of bronchitis. I actually understood my own anatomy better and could better apply what the doctor had told me to do and what to expect. In addition, I had been admonished to NOT use a cough suppressant medications. “But why?” I wondered. “I feel like I really need some cough medicine!” To better understand that order, I looked up cough suppressant medicines and learned that with bronchitis, its better to “promote coughing.” Cough suppressants actually make it more difficult to clear the bronchial tubes.
It really helped to check all of the information out via Wikipedia ( www.wikipedia.org) and WebMD (www.webmd.com). I could better understand why I got a little crazy after spraying Albuterol into my body. Nonetheless, that medication is a life-saver for asthmatics and folks afflicted with acute bronchitis. For more on that, see the article entitled “Ventolin remains a breath of fresh air for asthmatics after 40 years.”
I am extremely grateful to my wife, Rose, and the entire legal team at Law Elder Law. We recently celebrated our 5th anniversary as an elder law-focused practice. When I decided to dedicate myself to the frail elderly and the disabled, one of my biggest concerns was my own age. One of my chief goals has been to make sure that if and when something happens to me, in that I cannot serve as the leader, the Law Elder Law team would be strong enough to carry on. Based on recent experience, I can assure everyone that Law Elder Law is being ably managed and staffed by my successors. Nonetheless, it’s time for me to get back to work!