The Living Nightmare

Yes, it is 3:37 AM, and I am sitting here at the computer. It seems that this coughing has coaxed it's way into my chest. I was very happy going to sleep because for the few hours beforehand I coughed very little and I thought it was over.. but then... not long ago, my dreams were rudely interrupted. It was as if someone announced "You are about to die from the never-ending cough." I even saw those words scroll across the back of my eyelids. I then proceeded to wake up coughing violently, unable to stop. Let me tell you this is a frightening experience, especially preceeded by such a disturbing thought. I was gagging, with tears pouring down my face, wondering when it was going to end. I wondered to myself "Is it really possible to die this way? It would be horrible to die coughing." Five minutes later after draining my water bottle to no avail I decided that I wasn't dreaming, I am in fact awake, and I can do something about this. As I stumbled out of my room I felt like I was in a nightmare. I flipped on as many lights as I could as I made my way to the kitchen, hoping to dispel the dream. Still coughing uncontrollably I leaned over a drawer frantically searching for a teaspoon to measure out cough syrup. The seconds crawled by.. Finally I pulled the right one from the drawer. I went to pour the cough syrup but had to wait a few seconds for the coughing to pause for a moment so that I wouldn't spill any of it. I've never been more glad to drink the stuff. Usually I gag it down and can only dream of swallowing by the utmost willpower, but this time I literally licked the spoon off. To my suprise it actually tasted good . The coughing gradually subsided, much to Jordans delight. I must've woke her while still in my room because she came angrily stomping through the living room looking for the laptop to play music on and drown me out. I don't blame her. If I had to listen to someone coughing nonstop for 15 minutes straight I would get aggravated too.

I don't know why I decided to blog this.. I guess because it's one of the most frightening things that's happened to me in a long time. I swear I wrote it exactly as it happened. I'm actually afraid to go back to sleep. I'm certainly not going back to bed - lying down doesn't help. And I don't know what I'll do if it happens again because I can only take that cough syrup every 6 hours. I feel like I could be still dreaming, but if that were true then I'd either still be coughing or be dead.. in my dream that is. Well I'm exhausted now.. I'm sure this will all be very comical in the morning, just right now it seems so scary.