Perspective, take 2

I asked my colleague Stephen today if he thought I sounded depressed. I've been asked twice now in a few days, while talking over the phone, if I was OK. I didn't come through as having as much "pep" as I usually do... Stephen said no, I didn't sound depressed, but he said he could tell that I was itching to get back to my regular exercise routine, and that the long recovery from pneumonia was taking its toll on me.

I think Stephen is right. I don't feel depressed, just slightly impatient with the slow progress. But I've been reminding myself about a few things. This is not chronic, it's not cancer, it's just a long illness. I'm not going through chemo, radiation therapy, or taking medication daily and for the rest of my life. Things will get better, they ARE getting better. For the past few weeks, I had pretty bad pain in my chest when I was breathing and after a little bit of investigation, figured that it was due to either a hairline fracture on my rib (from the coughing) or maybe a sprained muscle around the rib cage. Since Monday, the pain is almost gone. I can feel a little discomfort when I take a deep breath, but nothing like before. It was painful to lie down, or switch position in bed. No longer the case.

Unfortunately, the continued presence of the chest pain prevented me from doing my tests at the respiratory clinic. The first test was to measure lung capacity, and I would have had to breathe deeply (inhale/exhale) several times. The doctor was afraid this would slow my recovery and recommended I reschedule the test when I was fully recovered. Once I do this inhale/exhale test, then I have to schedule the second test, specifically designed to identify whether or not I have asthma (asthma was a hunch from my doctor, not a confirmed diagnostic).