Do I need an antibiotic?

Hello from the land of the miserable colds.  I have been sick for over a week now, and boy do I love it.  I woke up on Sunday and felt like I was getting sick.  I chose to ignore it and get ready for church.  I went with my family to the first part of our church meetings.  At the end of that hour, I decided I should go home and get some rest.  My throat was on fire.  I don't remember having a sore throat hurt that bad in a long time.  Even my silver bullet halls blue ice cough drops had little effect on my throat.  I knew I was in for a fun one.  The next morning I was so miserable I actually called in sick.  I have never done that before.  I have gone home early from work on two separate occasions but never have I canceled my whole day.
I knew with the sore throat that it would lead to a cough.  Sure enough I have been coughing for all of last week and continuing into today.  It feels a little difficult to breathe and I wish I could just suck all the junk out of my lungs instead of having to cough it all up.  I have a good friend who is my physician.  I sent him a text, and asked if he thought I should have an antibiotic.  He asked me a few questions and said yes lets put you on one.  So hopefully I will start seeing some relief in the next 24-48 hours.
I have become a little gun shy about toughing things out ever since my younger healthy brother ended up on a ventilator in the ICU for over 10 weeks.  He caught the flu H1N1 and it progressed to pneumonia.  He almost died.  If a young guy who is in far better shape than me can get that sick that fast it makes me a little concerned.  Now I don't think that every little sniffle needs an antibiotic, but because I felt like it was hard to breathe I talked to my physician.  I could have just called a buddy and had him call in an antibiotic for me without consulting my physician, but I wanted to get his opinion on my situation.  If you are concerned that you need an antibiotic consult your doctor.  Being tough isn't worth several hundred thousand dollars in hospital bills or ten weeks in the ICU and several weeks in physical therapy.  Take care of yourself this cold and flu season.

That is all