Six days and a pack of Azithromycin later

Wow.  What a totally insane, depressing, physically draining, emotionally trying, and just generally poopy stretch of days.  As indicated in the title of this post, I have been the lucky recipient of strep throat/upper respiratory infection/sinus infection/some kind of infection that the Z-pack will undoubtedly take care of so that's what I was prescribed when I finally went to the doctor.  I've been fairly well out of commission since last week on Friday, although I thought I could forcibly push the illness out of my body last Friday by going about my routine like normal and hitting both classes.  This may have been my downfall because after that evening class, I wasn't able to get my body back into the hot room properly until tonight, Wednesday. 

This past weekend I nursed myself as best I could and went into the hot room on Monday morning, setting up in the back because I suspected I'd at the very least be blowing my nose the entire time (and possibly passing out to boot).  We started pranayama breathing and the breathing *in* bit was fine, but my forced breath out sounded like a broken teakettle on the boil.  My lack of air flow and the clear obstruction in my lungs, coupled with body aches, fatigue, shortness of breath, and general bodily crapiness, prompted me to leave straight away to go to the doctor.  The nurse here at training had repeatedly asked me if I wanted to see the doctor on Saturday as well as Monday morning, but I sincerely thought it was just a bad cold.  It was wishful thinking, unfortunately.

After the breathing exercise, I just walked out of the room, leaving my mat, towel, and water there on the floor.  After some back and forth with my out-of-state insurance company, I realized that the only way to have my doctor's visit covered was to visit the ER at the local hospital.  I managed to get there through the haze that had by then settled around my head, and after waiting in a room that I shared with a poor man who had been admitted for attempted suicide while intoxicated (!), the doctor declared that I likely had either strep (since it was going around in my group of 428 close friends here at training) or some kind of other infection.  The whole time the doctor is talking to me, I'm in a near panic, not because of the diagnosis but because I have to take my Anatomy final at 12:30 and the clock is ticking ever-closer.  I have no idea if I can re-sit if I miss it (and damn it, I was all studied up for it so I was going to take that exam even if it meant leaving the ER and coming back later).  Fortunately the Dr. came through with the paperwork excusing me from yoga for a couple of days and a prescription for Azithromycin, the 5-day Z-pack that would knock out the bacterial infection of whatever sort it might be.

Left the ER, made it back just in time for the exam, did very well (69/70) and spent the next 2.5 days sleeping punctuated by the occasional posture clinic, lecture, and a couple of episodes of the Mahabharata here and there.  My body was completely non-cooperative, I looked terrible, felt terrible, and I'm sure I was a complete pain in the ass to anyone I had to interact with over the last few days.  Sincere apologies if you were one of those people.  I just felt so awful, so dark and weak, that I couldn't even get it together to communicate appropriately with anyone.  My roommate is such a sweetheart to have dealt with me in my cranky, semi-conscious state these last few days.  You're the best, Adrienne!  I owe you a coffee.

But the good news is that tonight, Wednesday, I finally feel good.  Great, even.  I was back in the hot room and it was just fine.  Well, health-wise, that is.  My back feels broken and my knees ache, but these are common complaints here at training so I'm not too concerned about them.  The dramatic contrast between feeling at your worst and then feeling kind of normal is enough to make you feel euphoric.  I'm giddy to not have to feel so fundamentally weak and crappy anymore! 

Despite being out of the hot room, I have been going to posture clinics and keeping up on my postures so I'm not behind there.  We're almost done with the standing series (already!) and I'm realizing that I have to start reviewing the postures I've already done so as not to forget them completely.  We're moving at such a fast pace I'm not sure how I'm going to find that time, but a little review now and then will ultimately benefit my recall in such a big way that I'll just have to make the time.

Still loving training, thrilled that I'm back in synch with my fellow yogis and not just sitting on the bench, and still not quite sure how I'm supposed to go about teaching an entire class when I get outta the joint.

"One day at a time", right?