Seems kind of silly to me.

Happy September.

I finally finished my online medical terminology course. After taking the final exam, though, nothing really happened, so I don't know what will happen next. Do they send me some sort of congratulatory letter of recognition for finishing the course? Who knows.

While I was taking the final exam though, I was looking up some terms and came across something called spontaneous pneumothorax. It's a condition in which air or gas collects in the space between the lungs and the chest that prevents the lung from inflating completely, causing sudden sharp chest pain, shortness of breath, chest tightness, rapid heart rate, and could surface with anxiety, tension, and stress, but mainly occurs during rest or sleep. Spontaneous pneumothorax occurs with no traumatic injury and can occur in people without any sort of lung disease, often in tall, thin, young people. And it sounds like what I've got.

Unfortunately, I probably have to ride it out, if it is what I have. The only sort of "prevention" I can take outside of not smoking looks like some sort of procedure called pleurodesis, which could keep air and fluid from building around the lungs to prevent collapses. Somehow. I don't know.

Anyway, I'll go to the health center on campus Thursday and have them do some tests to see if that's what is wrong with me. I'm not going to my physician anymore because it's just ridiculously expensive for what little they do or find out. The health center on campus is free if you're a student, you see. It's included in the tuition. So maybe I'll finally get a diagnosis and some treatment after all these years? I hope so.