I think I've got that too

It should come of no surprise to you, dear readers, that I get great joy from toying with people. Give me an easy target and I'll keep myself entertained for hours. The other day I had to head to the vet for a checkup and to get a 'script to do battle with a sinus infection I've had for a couple of days. Seeing as I had a sinus infestation I wasn't feeling so hot, I was pretty sure that my head was going to explode, but that didn't keep me from striking up a conversation with the Hypochondriac in the waiting room.

I'll admit that I shouldn't have done it, but Hypochondriacs have always amused me, 'specially somebody that comes well prepared, as in Physicians Desk Reference (PDR) in hand with color coded tags hanging out. The way she was coughing you'd have sworn she'd been shacked up with ebola and tuberculosis ridden love monkeys for the past six months, hell she didn't look so hot either.

I'm being my normal charming self and I strike up a conversation, we chat a bit while we're waiting, mainly about her ailments and the many infestations she's fighting with. If she's as infected as she thinks any minute now she'll be paying a visit to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. In situations such as these there are two types of people those that help, and those that don't. I happen to be one of the latter.

As we talked she rattled off her symptoms and I made mental notes of them, how could I not she was coughing, gagging and wheezing between each and every word, not to mention the vivid descriptions constipation, diarrhea, vomiting spells, feeling faint, light headed and dizzy. She rattled off three or four various infectious diseases, rubella and measles being two of the possible ailments, which she was certain, she was infected with. So I seized the moment, as I slowly repeated her symptoms back to her verbatim caused and let her know that a roommate of mine in college had the exact same symptoms she has and that he'd picked up an infection from the bacteria Treponema pallidum¹.

Now this go her attention and she dug through her PDR trying to find the bacteria and it wasn't listed. We discussed the treatment that my roommate had received and how it had only taken a month, two tops for him to get better. Then the nurse then walked into the waiting room and called my name so I had to run before I could tell her that Treponema pallidum is the bacteria that causes Syphilis.

Really I was gonna tell her.

Honest I was.

Oh well, maybe the doc found it humorous too.

¹Before anyone starts thinking I'm intelligent; the only way I knew the name of the bacteria is because I was reading an article explaining how syphilis is one the rise. I really need to talk to my doc about getting better reading materials, perhaps FHM or Maxim.