THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Not a break I'd want again — real or imagined

We have to be serious at the start.

It’s only right.

Many of you read my column last week, the explanation of where I’d vanished for the better part of two months.

If you didn’t see it, the simple version is that the Cheap Seats wasn’t on holiday — more like the injured list.

It was no fun, enduring a form of pneumonia that was just plain scary, and even now I’m waiting for an all-clear on my lungs.

OK, the reason I’m sure that lots of you saw the column was a full-blown reaction.

It almost knocked me over.

I got more emails following that column than after anything I’ve written in five years at the paper – and that includes a couple of stretches covering politics, the sort of thing that ALWAYS brings a boatload of comments.

But last week…

Well, the sheer number of replies was amazing, and so was the theme.

Everyone wished me a fast recovery and good health going forward.

EVEN MORE astonishing, quite a few readers shared their own and their families’ medical issues — offering the feeling that we’re all in this together.

To all of you, I hope for the best, and let’s celebrate getting well, shall we?

Right, now back at the start today…

I mentioned getting to the serious issue, and doing it immediately because I’ll always be stunned (and thrilled) at how many of you took the time to get in touch.

There was another topic that came up, though, and if you look at it just right, you might find some humor.

I mentioned in that original column that, along with the horrors of going through this particular illness, you’re probably likely to endure bouts of delirium — which sounds funny (especially in the case of a sports columnist) but actually can leave you terrified.

More than a dozen readers saw some humor in my plight, though, and asked some version of this question: “What was the weirdest thing you imagined that wasn’t really true?”

I GOT one email that said, “Since it sounds like you were really out of it, could you see the Mariners making the playoffs?”

Nah.

But that one made me laugh.

As for the gang that is looking for true nightmare stories, I almost have to close my eyes to go back there.…

I woke up one night (or thought I did) with my room on fire. That one didn’t last long, thankfully.

There were a few other events that seemed WAY too real, though.

On a bizarre night in the hospital, I jumped out of bed and knocked over an IV stand. Apparently startled, I swung wildly and smashed some glass, leaving a bloody gash on my leg.

Suddenly, there were nurses everywhere — including one who was busy sewing up my leg as blood seemed to be running everywhere.

Do I have a scar from that affair?

No, of course not.

None of it actually happened.

None.

Neither did the giant plane crash outside my window.

Those, my friends, are things you can believe to be true if you fall victim to what’s called “infectious delirium.”

Mine started with an infected tooth that needed to be yanked.

Yes, really.

I stalled on getting it done, and…

I wound up with pneumonia and watching a plane crash.

There’s a lesson somewhere in there, eh?

Friday: Back to sports, and I’m thrilled to write those words.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball, which is published once per month during the offseason.