"Scary Lung X-Ray"

  Chris Cuomo's experience reminded me  (of course) of my own experience viewing my own scan, some years ago.
   I had  a cough and was feeling miserable. I remember being woken up one morning by a strange rattling sound, only to realize that it was my own breathing.
At the time I was tutoring a young girl ather home. She was not permitted to go to school because she had contracted a pneumonia on her last  visit to Mexico. Their home was clean, but because it was small, the living room was partitioned off to make another bedroom. This was done by hanging sheets or bedspreads on  a clothesline strung across the room. A lot of fabric, and close quarters.
   On this day, I had 2 medical appointments, both in Troy. The first was a follow-up visit to my cardiologist. He listened with a stethoscope, but said all was okay, to return in 6 months or so. I was rather surprised, but relieved that he found nothing wrong. I then drove to the gyno office, then in downtown Troy. The intake nurse did not conduct an examination, but just hearing my breathing, told me she thought I should follow up. She didn't like the sound of it. I don't remember the examining doctor having any comments or recommendations. But like many doctors, they only relate to the condition they treat.
  In the parking lot, I used my tiny little cell phone to call my primary doctor in Waterford. Dr. Carrozza was a caring and involved doctor. He immediately sent me for a chest X-ray. The lab he used was an old building behind the Dunkin' or whatever franchise is on the corner. The front part of the old building housed a medical office, and tucked away in the back was the X-ray facility. So I had the chest X-ray there, administered by a young medical person, who must have felt pretty isolated back in that dungeon-like area.
     He told me to wait while the films were developed and when they were, he asked me if I wanted to view them. I did. He pointed out a large white area in my right lung. I thought white might be good, but he said no, that was a sign of pneumonia. Again, I felt rather relieved. I'd never had pneumonia before, but had heard a much more ominous diagnosis not too many years before. But the relief was not long-lasting.
   Back in the doctor's Waterford office, Dr. C. told me that a white area on the lungs did  not necessarily mean it was pneumonia. Only that the lung was infected by some entity, which, due to my  previous history, could indicate a more serious condition. Several weeks of drug treatment and follow-up X-rays finally convinced him that it had been pneumonia. That was a very welcome outcome.