Blue Roses

Here's a confession. One of my life's secret desires has come to pass.

When I was in high school Speech & Drama we watched the movie of Tennessee Williams' play Glass Menagerie. In AP English IV, we read Tennessee Williams' Glass Menagerie. When I was in ENGL 2220 we read Tennessee Williams' Glass Menagerie. In Intro. to Theater we watched a university production of Tennessee Williams' play Glass Menagerie.

Playhouse on the Square is currently doing a production of Tennessee Williams' Glass Menagerie a mere 5 blocks from my house, and I had no desire to go see it....it's kind of a boring play, after all, and I don't really understand why it's such a staple in literature and theater classes.

However, since the first time I read it, I have been intrigued by pleurisy, or, as Jim hears it, "blue roses". I thought it was a romantic illness, in the way that dying of 'the consumption' was romantic in the Anne of Green Gables books, and I secretly wanted to contract pleurisy. We now call consumption 'tuberculosis', and it's a nasty disease that no one wants. As is pleurisy, I have recently discovered .

I started out with my normal seasonal allergies a few weeks ago, which then moved down into my chest & caused a cough, which evolved into bronchitis this past week, which has now evolved into 'blue roses'. What is it, you may ask? WebMD has this to say:

"What is pleurisy?
Pleurisy is swelling (inflammation) of the thin layers of tissue (pleura) covering the lungs and the chest wall. The outer layer of the pleura lines the inside of the chest wall, and the inner layer covers the lungs. The tiny space between the two layers is called the pleural cavity. This cavity normally contains a small amount of lubricating fluid that allows the two layers to slide over each other when you breathe. When the
pleura becomes inflamed, the layers rub together, causing chest pain. This is known as pleuritic pain.
Pleurisy is sometimes called pleuritis."

It's like having a stitch in your side that just won't go away and gets worse when you inhale, and mine started yesterday afternoon. I stayed home in bed today so I wouldn't have to talk to anyone, which makes me cough, which makes the pain get sharper. So I spend like 8 hours wandering around on the internet, snuggled up in my bed. It was kind of nice, except for the breathing part :)

And now I can say that I've had pleurisy, just like Laura Wingfield, and cross it off my list of things to do before I die!