Things you learn from pneumonia

(1) The white coat does not protect you from pathogens. 

Nor the scrubs.

and cap. 

and mask. 

Nor sometimes your prayers.

You are human just like everybody else. 

You're not as superhuman as you thought you are.

(2) Fever is your friend. 

At least that's the body's intention of shaking off, them demons.

It recruits a special group of cytokines to battle out what has passed by the first line of defense. 

We usually think fever is bad. 

Fever really is just an indicator that something's bad.

(3) Cough is your friend.

The intrathoracic cannon will try its very best to brush them all out.

The tiny hurricanes inside will howl over them no matter how clingy the sputum wanted to be.

Sometimes the abdomen gets involved. Sometimes neck chips in, too.

(4) Dyspnea, however, has a different story. 

She's there to tell you that everything's far too late, too progressed. 

That you needed extra help because coughing and fever cannot shoo it off. 

You try to gasp for air as if you're drunk in steptococcal tequila. 

The pleuritic pain is paralyzing as if the air feels like fire, seering through your lungs, 

that you'd hesitate to say something, 

or breathe something. 

Fever whom you thought was your friend, just burns you, and cooks you.
Cough whom you thought was your friend starts to get painful, and scarring, and barking.

And Dyspnea is nature's evil way of laughing.
Without the smile.  

Fever. Cough. and Dyspnea.

And the triad is complete.