Done With the Sickness

I came down with a bit of a sore throat yesterday and frankly, I'm not a fan. And yet, despite my feelings about being sick, I feel like I've spent the better part of the last few months under the weather.

Earlier this fall, I came down with something that seemed pretty minor. No real congestion to speak of, not even really a sore throat, just a bit of a tickle in the back of my throat. It was a minor annoyance, albeit an annoyance that seriously compromised my ability to do one of my hobbies--singing in a community choir. And here's the thing: minor as it was, it just kept going. Day after day, week after week. 

Finally, after 4 or 5 weeks I went to see the doctor, where I ended up paying like $700 out of pocket for them to tell me it wasn't COVID, either strain of the flu, or... pneumonia, I think? Basically, just a cold that won't go away. 

Around that time, it got slightly worse, and a complication arose. I coughed hard enough to either pull a muscle between my ribs or knock a rib out of alignment. And let me tell you, that was painful. Every time I sat up, laid down, rolled over, whatever--and, of course, any time I coughed--it hurt a lot. So even once the cough went away a month and a half after it started I still felt fairly bad because of this rib thing that also wouldn't go away. 

This is a sign of getting old, isn't it? 

I sure hope this sore throat doesn't stick around. We shall see. I am more than ready to be done with any and all forms of illness for the foreseeable future.