Pneumonia and Paris

This is what my lungs looked like as Death approached.

This is what my lungs looked like as Death approached.


It sucks to get sick. It sucks even worse to get sick right before a scheduled work trip to Paris, which is what happened to me a few weeks ago.

But then I started getting better and I thought, “Hey, I think it’s just a mild cold and I’m almost well, I’ll just power through.”

So I took a bunch of NyQuil, packed my things, and went to Paris! And that’s how I developed double pneumonia. I don’t think it was Paris per-se but the 11-and-a-half-hour flight, lack of sleep, jet lag, and all the running around to get to where we were staying. Apparently the body has limits.

Being sick sucks. Being sick in a foreign country where you barely speak the language … well you get the idea. But between my feeble attempts of “Avez-vous des NyQuil?” and the pharmacist’s much better command of English, I was able to get at least some relief.

So, lessons learned:

  • Don’t travel on a long international flight if you’re sick. It’s not worth it.
  • A week of not being able to sleep properly will make you delirious.
  • On the other hand, the pastries are to die for! Well, maybe not literally.
  • Paris is a wonderful city and I’m sure it’s much more enjoyable when not on the verge of death.
  • Modern medicine is amazing. I managed to make it to a clinic back in the States and they were like, “Yup, you’ve go pneumonia, like, rilly bad.” Then they shot me in the butt with antibiotics and I started to feel a little better immediately. I almost wept. Then they prescribed a bunch more stuff and I finally started to recover.

On the plus side, Tracy and Dyson got to see a little bit of Paris:

Dyson and Tracy walking the streets of Paris.

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