Postcard from 35000 feet

Yep, flying off again! One of things that I find really annoying about flying especially on long haul flights to Europe or Asia is the recirculation of the air in the planes cabin. On a 12 hour flight it amounts to flying in a Petri dish and more often than not you wind up get sick.

Now there is getting sick with a cold or sore throat and then there is getting really sick with something more serious. This is exactly what happened to me earlier in the month when I was flying back from Zurich via Munich, Germany.

There was an old guy seating about tree rows behind me who was hacking up his lung for the duration of the flight. I not saying he coughed a few times; he was hacking continuously for the entire flight and was clearly sick! That’s just unbelievably inconsiderate of the other passengers in the cabin.

So, I get home and a day or so later my throat starts to bother me and over a day or so it migrates to my chest. I started feeling really miserable and went to the doctor to get something to take care of whatever it is I had. It turns out that I had a bad case of bronchitis and was given a prescription for some antibiotics which I took as directed.

The bronchitis just didn’t seem to get better but rather worse. I continued to feel terrible and was coughing like the guy on the plane. I decided to go back to the doctor and get checked again. At this point the doctor detected fluid in my left lung and ordered up an x-ray. Sure enough the bronchitis had turned into pneumonia. They immediately gave me intravenous antibiotics that day and I had to come back the next two days in the morning for more intravenous antibiotics with steroids.

All that from a guy who decided to fly while he was seriously sick!

Fortunately I am well again and just about 100%. But now, anytime I am going to do an international flight I’m going to start a z-pack of antibiotics the day before leaving on the trip. At least it will give some protection so I don’t have to go through getting that sick again.

I’m also seriously considering wearing a surgical mask as well just to scare the crap out of the other passengers!!!   

Dave Bossert- Commentary

Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.