It was after lunch that Jon told me he felt his cough had gotten worse. We went back and forth for a while, trying to decide if we should go to Urgent Care. We could wait one more day and call his doctor but I heard the rattle too.
His cough, though constant and bad since Friday had a dry raspy sound that came from his throat. Now he was feeling it in his chest.
I didn’t think he needed to spend the rest of the day and night coughing and wondering if he had bronchitis or worse. So we got in the car, Jon protesting that maybe we didn’t need to go at all off and on throughout the trip to Saratoga.
We were lucky, there was only one person ahead of us at Urgent Care and we got into a room quickly. The nurse was friendly and had read some of Jon’s books. We talked dogs as well as the medical stuff.
As we waited for someone to come and bring Jon to get an x-ray, he posed behind the big chair in the exam room and I took his picture.
This is one of the things I love about our relationship. Even as we’re waiting to find out what’s going on with Jon, we’re also thinking of our art. About taking a good picture for our blogs, about being creative together.
And I think that really shows in this photo I took of Jon.
We share the same values. Our work helps us get through the difficult times. Sick as he was these past few days, Jon wrote some really good pieces including a very smart and funny poem about fear.
And even though the work I was doing in my studio stopped when we decided to make the trip to Urgent Care, I knew if I had the opportunity, I’d be doing a “Waiting for Jon” drawing on the small pad I keep in my bag.
It turns out that Jon does have bronchitis. He got a prescription cough suppressant and an inhaler, which will hopefully allow him to get some sleep tonight. We’ll sleep downstairs again, so he can sit upright in his chair. I’ll be next to him on the couch, and Bud will spend half the night on Jon’s lap and the other wrapped around my feet.
I think we’ll both sleep a little better now that we know exactly what’s going on with Jon’s cough and that now he has what he needs to help him get better.
