Hacking Specialist

Not what you may think. Nothing at all to do with computers.
But I should be an expert by now. I mean, 5 times within 8 months.
World record for me who has hardly ever missed a day of work in all my 10 yrs of working in this field.
I shouldnt blame others. Yet I cant help but do.
It all started off with this little sweet ol lady..... coughing on my head.
That night, my throat had a scratchy feeling.
I was down for almost 2 weeks.
Postponing a new date's second date requests for about 4 times.... he finally gave up and thought I was faking.
I tried everything I knew of then.
Concoctions of the juice of 1 orange, 1 grapefruit, 1 lemon once a day.... heck I even upped it to 2 times a day.
I think the enamel of my teeth wore down a few layers worth.
And the Cold FX extra strength, doubling up on the dose per day.
What a costly hoax, if you ask me now.
Then the sick days. Those days I hardly touched at work. Broke my record. Again and again.
I sweated it out as well. Wrapping myself up in socks and fleecy track pants, sweater and scarf. My flannel sheets and douvet coccooning me up until you can only see my eyes.
Who knows if these things contributed to my recovery.
Eventually, after what seemed like a life put on pause, I came out of it.

Only, to have it come back in a familiar yet different form a few months later.
That itching cough you can feel coming on which brings with it so much anxiety as I panic inside, trying to muffle and hold back the pressure building in my throat, sometimes odd sounds escape my mouth, my eyes begin to tear up and turn red, I panic,  trying to find my exit out of any social situation, be it a work meeting, a discussion with a patient, a conversation with a friend, or an outing on  date....Armed with my ricolas and halls and hot honey-lemon- ginger tea in hand,  I still panic inside, knowing that when it starts, I am left helpless, at its mercy, being forced into unsightly hacking, lung ejecting coughs that I know will not stop, until my eyes and face are red and my throat is raw and until I exasperate every little  bit of air in my lungs in hopes it will clear this uncontrollable, unconsoleable hacking cough.... so then, I just need to ride out till the end of this coughing session until I can find that few moments of calm and normalcy  .............. and until I feel that throat itch and panic and anxiety set in once again.

Then during holiday season, the weeks long attack happens again, almost like it picks the times that my life is at its socially busiest.
Not quite leaving me on my vacation away and to come back yet again when I have to go back to work.
It seems to like my scheduled days off. Turning my "vacation days" into actual sick days - though Im too late to change it.
Muuhahahahahahah! I can almost hear it laughing at me as I hack away the last bit of lung tissue I have left.

This time, it started as an innocent "tickle" in my throat. Not again! I started early with the vitamin C. Kept the mask on at work and secretly avoided (like the plague) and was extremely annoyed at the squash partner that started coughing during our break, and the patient that came in saying that his cold is "almost gone" as he coughed away in my office.
This time when I simply swallowed my saliva, it felt like there was a golf ball stuck in my throat, and the soreness was felt into my ears and spread to my temples. I had headaches and body aches. And now when it seemed to be going away... that impending anxiety and non stop hacking feels like it is coming back to finish this one off again.

F(*%$!n cold! You have seriously overstayed your welcome this year! This last time will be the end of you dammit!