So the Plague of '17 is the Plague of '18 too!

This is a grim update about what I'd thought was merely bronchitis.

On Wednesday evening, I had a coughing spell that left me gasping for air, and I had to go to the emergency room. I'd been feeling this way since the day after Christmas, and it had generally gotten worse.

It turns out it's whooping cough - also known as pertussis.

The past 2 weeks have been flushed down the portable poopot by this ailment.

As it turns out, Highlands High School reported 7 cases of whooping cough in December alone. This is especially shocking because all the students afflicted had been vaccinated.

This entry is not the venue to argue about who's an antivaxxer and who isn't. Rather, this experience is just another example of the region's historic mismanagement of containing communicable diseases - and The Media's history of egging it on. Let's face it: The area has a shitty record on this. I've known it for 30 years.

For the record, the United States reported only about 1,000 cases of whooping cough in 1976. Wikipedia reports that "incidence rates have increased since 1980" - proving yet another Reagan failure. In 2015, there were about 20,000 cases.

I just got finished with all the prescriptions that I got, but I still have to be on bed rest until the bubble gum busts. I was constantly tired already from the effects of PTSD, and now this.