Breathing Into It

I went back to work the last week in January, and the first three days I did okay. I was tired but had a lot to catch up on so needed to keep going. I had emailed lesson plans every day I was out and needed to get a handle on all of it. I'd never had bronchitis take that much out of me.

By Thursday that week I was coughing again and exhausted. I dragged myself in Friday and must have looked sick because the school secretary offered to get coverage for my class that afternoon. I made it through and called the doctor for a Saturday appointment. Pneumonia. I had pneumonia for the first time in my life. The good news was a prescription for antibiotics. The bad news was that I was down for the count again. I couldn't be on my feet for any length of time. I lost another whole weekend and missed two more days of work.

I had to get back to work on Wednesday. I did not have another day of remote lesson plans in me.

I had learned my lesson the first round and knew I needed enough rest to fully recover. I rested after work and got seven hours of sleep every night. In the past, when I'd been sick and then got back on my feet, I would zip around like a crazy woman catching up and making everything right again.

Not this time. I did what had to be done at work and took it easy at home. Ken was recovering from weeks of not feeling 100% so we kept life simple. Once we were sure we were on the mend we saw all the kids and grandkids; we took long drives and made comfort food for dinner; I was able to sit at the sewing machine. I knew we were okay when we took a long walk through a local downtown on a sunny afternoon.

A residual problem is a pain on my right side. With all the coughing I put a rib out of place or pulled a muscle or some combination of both. My massage therapist and DO are working my body through the problem. They tell me to "breathe into it." So I am ~ breathing into it.

That's really good advice for getting through all kinds of things.