Breathing Again

I spent yesterday morning at the doctor, getting checked for that nagging cough that I get every time I get sick. I seem to have a very mild asthma that's triggered by illness, but at the moment, they're hitting it with a lot of stuff to get rid of the cough, and then we'll dig into exactly what's going on. As a result, I have a rather complicated medication schedule. I already feel a lot better. There's still some coughing, but not like there was, and I got a decent night's sleep last night, for the first time in ages. It was funny, at first they weren't thinking about asthma because my lung function test came in at 114 percent of "normal." I pointed out that I'm a singer, so I'm not quite normal. Sure enough, when they had me breathe in some medication and tested function again, it really did improve, which was a sign that there was something that needed to be treated.

I'm still going to be taking it easy this weekend to get completely well. I'm probably going to spend a lot of time brainstorming because a lurking idea that I think might make a good book proposal has risen up to demand attention, suddenly a lot more fully formed than it was, and I may develop it enough to give my agent a proposal to work with while I'm busy writing the new Rebel Mechanics book.

This is totally not an excuse to spend the weekend watching movies and reading relevant research books.

It looks like I'm going to be staycationing this year because every time I try to block out time that I could get away, something arises in those days, so I can't even find three consecutive days to go anywhere. I like to have at least that much time, so that there's a whole day that isn't a travel day. The solo I didn't get to do when I was sick got moved to the Sunday of the weekend I'd been planning for, and then there was an event that's on the border of work and fun that Saturday, so that turned out to be a good opportunity to go to that event. Then I'd thought about going away the following Monday and coming back on Wednesday in time for choir, but then there's an important HOA meeting on that Tuesday, and my follow-up doctor visit is that Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, I more than used up any "vacation" time while I was sick and not very productive. So, what I may do instead is give myself time to do some fun things around town, as opportunities arise. If it's a pleasant day and I'm feeling up to it, I can go hiking or walking. I may visit downtown and go to a museum.

But first, I need to get well, as I just don't feel like doing much right now. I'm hoping that tackling this thing that turns even a minor cold into an epic ordeal will end up making me more productive. Fewer days sick means more days writing, which means more books.