Every few years, I catch something of an upper respiratory nature and it hands me a humbling dose of reality as to how low my immune system has become. In a prior post I shared I had caught some kind of crud / cold / infection (insert whatever non-diagnosed descriptor you have here). After 2-3 weeks, I began to mend and felt nearly back to normal. But alas, it wasn’t really gone.
A few days later, those familiar joint aches, temperature fluctuations, and coughing spasms came back but this time, with a vengeance. Round two included chest rattling wheezing and coughing. Sleep disappeared again for two weeks.
I pulled a muscle in my back and around my ribs from the incessant coughing fits that woke me multiple times each night and made virtual work meetings impossible. Needless to say, it’s been a long time since I’ve been that sick. Fortunately, this time I avoided throat pain.
A quick S.O.S to my primary care physician brought me harder-hitting medications, antibiotics, and nebulizer treatments to get me through it. It was a struggle still, as if the chest wheezing and horrible sounding coughs were not going down without a fight. Despite crossing the line of having taking all the antibiotics for three weeks, I still had a cough no one wanted to be around.
I am back on my feet (again), this time hopefully for good. It was a ride I don’t want to take again, but I’m also grateful an upper respiratory was all it was. Things can always be worse.