Knock on wood, I'm back

After another three weeks of coughing, and I really think, this time, I'm going to make it.

I know, I've said that before.

I spent the last few weeks breathing through a nebulizer four times a day, inhaling steroids, taking an antibiotic. And coughing.

The final verdict is that I probably had whooping cough --- pertussis. I started getting sick with a pretty horrible cough at the end of February, serious fatigue, and a cough that changed over the months but never got better, only worse. It was only when my newest doctor threw everything at it that I started to get a little better. And get hope.

And besides the coughing, that was the toughest part about being sick. Wondering if I was going to have respiratory problems that would last the rest of my life. These past few months, I just stopped doing my usual everything and did nothing.

I quit going or teaching Zumba. I lost the motivation to do all the home projects I had been looking forward to doing. I didn't walk. Didn't play my fiddle. Didn't socialize. Didn't write. Nada. Because not only do you feel sick from being sick, you feel terrible from all the side effects from all the medicines that are essential to keep the cough at bay, much less cure the damn thing.

Now that we have a diagnosis and I'm feeling better, I understand what happened. When I started coughing, I (and all the doctors) assumed it was a typical virus. If I had taken an antibiotic then, I might have had a chance of a quicker recovery. But adults don't have the typical 'whoop' sound of the cough, it's just deep and persistent. So by the time I took one of several antibiotics, it was to treat secondary infections.

In other words, too late.

But what I really want to say is --- knock on wood --- I'm back. I taught a Zumba class yesterday morning with just a few short hacks and wheezes. I worked on a quilting project. I took an hour long walk with Michael, up and down the Watkins Glen hills. And I felt fine afterwards, just tired. As it should be.

Monday morning I start teaching a long postponed Zumba class to my Hector Warrior Women friends, launch a business I've had on hold (more about that another time), open up the lake house, and generally go back to life in the fast lane of retirement.

And be very, very grateful that I can.