Down But Not Out

Following my rather cryptic post on Friday, I thought I should give you a more detailed explanation of my illness. A few weeks ago, I had a summer cold with the usual symptoms. I thought it was gone but it wasn't. It reared its ugly head during more intense bouts of cardiovascular exercise with lots of coughing and a little trouble breathing. Thursday night, it let me know that it, and not I was in charge.

I had just finished a hard ride on the Tatamy Trail (14.4 miles) with my grandson. I actually finished slightly ahead of him and was quite pleased with myself. But after dinner, I began experiencing more than the usual body aches that an old geezer like me suffers. I figured that the best remedy for that was a 2-mile cooldown walk with Mason, a seeing eye dog with the kind soul of a saint. Unfortunately, I now began experiencing chills, fever and fatigues in addition to the body aches. I finally realized I was sick. 

After finishing the walk, I decided to sleep. I slept all night Thursday, although I was interrupted by frequent bouts of coughing. Ditto Friday, Friday night and Saturday. On Saturday night, the fever finally broke. For some reason, I was certain it was Covid. After the fever broke, I took the COVID test several times, and it was negative. It is just a summer cold. But it's the summer cold that refuses to go away. 

This is likely my own fault. Instead of resting when I first realized I was sick, I continued pushing. This sounds silly, but I had burned at least 500 calories a day with exercise over the past 355 days. I often doubled that goal, which is easy to do on a hard bike ride combined with walking and a little running here and there. 

I believe my reward for my efforts is bronchitis. Since this is usually viral, antibiotics are ineffective, and I've been avoiding them for years anyway. 

I know I am still sick but feel much better than I did on Thursday night and am on the mend. I expect to be walking in a day or two and riding again a few days after that. 

I admit that I am the main cause of my most recent illness. I would much prefer to go tets up on a trail than in my bed, but I don't get to choose how I die. As my brother sagely observed, "We all have expiration dates." 

I loved the comments on Friday.

"Swine flu?" asked one reader. Another was rooting for COVID.  A third called it "Skyline's Revenge" for my posts critical of the TIF for Wilson Borough's Dixie Cup. Someone joked I got sick because I rode with a Republican on Wednesday. 

I plan to return to where I was before I was rudely interrupted on Thursday night with yet another Dixie story on Tuesday.