Scattered Thoughts . . .

So, I'm still testing negative for COVID but I am feeling quite lousy... coughing up a lung every few minutes...  also with barking coughs...  chest congestion and coughing up phlegm...  and just generally feeling lousy...  and tired.  I've been doing so much coughing that I'm sure the neighbors must think I am dying of COVID in here.   It is time to make lunch but I just want to lie down and sleep.  Coughing sometimes hurts in my chest but hurts my head most of the time.  I don't have a headache but my head pounds with each cough.  This is a really strange illness that I've never experienced before in my life.  It is very, very hard to believe that I am truly testing negative for COVID.  Then again, I have very little faith nor confidence in the accuracy of the COVID tests.  

I'm still struggling to shake free from the flu.  I've been sick since just before we arrived back home from our cross country rail journey.   I still have a cough but not nearly as bad as it was in that first week. My biggest complaint, however, is dealing with the overwhelming fatigue and overall aches and pains.  Then, add in the usual fatigue, bone pain and joint pain from my primary illness and the past few weeks have been brutal.  An hour after getting out of bed in the morning, I need to lay down again.  At that point each day, I hardly have the energy to stand or hold my head up.   We'll see how long this lasts...  I'm tired of it though...

Near the end of our stay at the lake house this summer, my health took a major nosedive after a physically demanding incident on the water ( can be read here ). Pushing my body since developing Systemic Mastocytosis  always results in failed and deteriorating health and this incident was no exception   (even for a short spurt of only two minutes, like this time) .  For about four months, my health has been deteriorating more and more each day. Breathing capacity was limited and breathing has been difficult, at best, due to inflammation in my lungs. Along with this inflammation was some fluid buildup. I felt as though I was drowning and suffocating.  My energy level plummeted. I don't have much energy to begin with so any loss of energy is significant. For example, even on the best of days since developing Systemic Mastocytosis, I am only about 40-50% of my physical self as I once was when I was healthy. Plus, for a more accurate assessment, we should add the intense chronic pai