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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Eenie Meenie Mynie Moe...

When I first came to Columbia Presbyterian (hereafter referred to as "Columbia Presbyterian") the doctors and nurses acted sort of like Beth Israel on amphetamines: they had no idea what was wrong with me, but at least they were hurrying and running and bustling around trying to figure it out. First order of business was getting me on the respirator. After that they tried to determine what exactly their diagnosis would be. As I understand it, the way that was done was by hanging about twenty different kinds of antibiotics on the IV pole and then waiting to see which one my wretched, tortured ol' lungs responded to. When I finally awoke there was some information lying next to my bed about a type of pneumonia called Bronchiolitis Obliterans with Organizing Pneumonia, or B.O.O.P. Apparently the doctors had finally figured out what disease I had and someone (I still don't know who) Googled it and left it for me to read. Personally I thought that it was very hard to take an illness named B.O.O.P. seriously. So, just for me they changed its name. Really! It is now officially called Cryptogenic Organizing Pneumonia, or C.O.P.. Come on now, if you were fighting a teensy little bacteria that was trying desparately to kill you, wouldn't you want it to have a name it could be proud of?

PS Here's a link to a website about C.O.P. or B.O.O.P., in case you're interested... http://www.cop-boop.org.uk/

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