Lurgy!

Apologies for my silence on Rose-coloured, dear friends (and on many other fronts; for the first time in a long time I’m not only behind on my correspondence but not even sure what I’m behind on). This week Mark had a minor outpatient surgery scheduled on Tuesday and I planned the rest of my week devoted to his care and comfort. Tuesday morning I woke up with a slight tickle in my throat, which I ignored in my concern that Mark get off to the hospital safely and everything go well. It did; I retrieved him from the hospital in a rapture of joy, we went home, I made soup, we watched one TV show, and as we did I began to shiver uncontrollably. I was wearing my heaviest sweatshirt and Mark was wearing a tshirt; when I touched his arm he was warm. On some level I knew the problem was inside me but because it is winter and our place is often cold I decided the solution a hot bath. Which felt nice for a while but then when I got out I was wildly overheated to the point that my heart was pounding and I almost passed out. I had to ask Mark to sit with me until unconsciousness blessedly overtook me. And so ended my post-surgical caretaking.

I looked up “Lurgy” as a title for this post and it actually refers to a minor ailment, which is not what I have but it’s a fun word so I’m keeping it. After struggling to sleep, eat, walk briskly, and sometimes even speak all week, I went to the doctor yesterday and got diagnosed with bronchitis, not covid, possible pneumonia—a chest xray will determine that. I’ll let you know about that.

Long time Rose-coloured correspondents may recall the 2015-2016-2017 season when this happened previously. I was not ALWAYS sick during those years, but sometimes it felt like I was. I had a multi-month ordeal with bronchitis in 2015 and after I finally got better, got every cold, flu, and miscellaneous bug available for the next two years, all of which irritated my lungs. Those were different times, of course, and I had a lot of adventures in poor health: I wasn’t unable to see my niece on the day she was born because my terrible cough sounded sort of like whooping, but then I got tested and found it wasn’t whooping cough, and was able to see her, cough and all. I have been short of breath in some of the most beautiful places in the world. I remember sitting under a rock outcrop on Antelope Island with my friend Wren, completely unable to continue hiking and yet completely content.

That archipelago of illnesses finally ended at the end of 2017/beginning of 2018 when I saw a naturopath, and I think just got some needed rest and good luck germ-wise. And I was really lucky for about 7 years—I just got sick the normal way, catching something, being a bit ill for a while, getting better. Not having things hang on and on and become debilitating. Even when I got covid in 2022 it was mild. Very very lucky.

My luck has run out. Would you like to know the symptoms of this particular lurgy? Just in case anyone else has this strain and wants to compare notes (or just so I can rant, this is a rant).

1) Fever as aforementioned. I was never in any shape to find my thermometer and still don’t know where it is but this was bad for a couple days. The chills thing was wild, I’d never experienced that before.
2) Lack of appetite. This isn’t a stomach flu, and other than when I accidentally coughed too hard I didn’t really experience nausea but I couldn’t eat for two days, and my appetite is just now sort of coming back. I think it was the fever? Mark would put food down in front of me (Mark cooked all his own post surgical meals after that one soup, and also made sure I didn’t die) and I would see it and know it looked nice and it had been a long time since I’d eaten last and just could NOT make myself eat it. As a big fan of food, this was disconcerting.
3) Inability to focus. Again, I think this must have been the fever. On days two and three, I had to bow out of work because I could not think. Even writing a text took a long time and a lot more focus than I could easily muster. At one point I watched Mark read the newspaper for about an hour. When he got up to get something, I shifted my gaze to stare at the painting on the wall. I think my mouth was open.
4) Lack of voice. This one might be unique to me, as I have scarred vocal cords owing to a childhood bout with streppe throat making me vulnerable to vocal problems (this post really makes it seem like I’m always sick, which I am not, really!) but I was sliding in the laryngitis territory pretty early on the second day. I never 100% couldn’t speak, but a couple sentences was pushing it.
5) Cough. This is the big one. I have a huge, car-accident-sounding cough that keeps me up at night, hurts my chest, and never seems to quit. I take cough suppressants in order to get any sleep, or any peace during the day.
6) Sneezing/sniffling. I have sneezed and sniffled and gone through several boxes of tissues. Compared to the cough this is nothing, though. Certainly by decibal.

So, that is my lurgy. IT IS AWFUL and I feel very sorry for myself. I also feel pretty bad for Mark who was for once going to get a week of ease and care and instead had to make casseroles and figure out how to order groceries online.

<3

RR